#aja would be a student though not one of /his/ students

[vampirecatboy]

really should finish baldur's gate before i start plotting aus in my head

[justinsentertainmentcorner]

Aja Romero at Vox:

One of the things that made Macklemore’s Gaza protest rap “Hind’s Hall” so electrifying when it dropped on May 6 is how unexpected it was. It wasn’t just that Macklemore, who hasn’t really seemed culturally relevant since his notorious Grammy win over Kendrick Lamar a decade ago, was suddenly headline news. It was that no one, relevant or not, seemed to be making protest music anymore, least of all about the Israel-Hamas war. Macklemore’s blistering anthem takes aim at Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza, where more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed, following the deadly October 7 Hamas attacks. The song comes at a time when student protests around the country are pushing the conflict and America’s role in it to the forefront of cultural debate. Though Macklemore doesn’t have the reputation for political activism that other artists have, it’s not for lack of trying: He’s been producing politically themed music ever since his debut album in 2005.

Macklemore also occupies a rare position: As he himself says in a “Hind’s Hall” verse, his status as an independent artist, as well as a white one, allows him to take a bold political stance. Most artists would risk career-ending repercussions for speaking out, especially about such a polarized subject as Gaza. The post-Trump era has been a fallow period for protest music, though the current revival of campus activism could usher in an adjacent revival for the genre. But if “Hind’s Hall” hints at a return, there are other complicating factors at play when we think about what protest music even means in contemporary America.

Macklemore, surprisingly political

“Hind’s Hall” doubles as a song of support for student protesters across America and as a form of protest against Israel’s Gaza offensive itself. The song title refers both to an informally renamed building at Columbia University, the nexus of student protests there, and to the hall’s namesake, Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old Palestinian girl who was allegedly killed by Israeli troops in January, along with her family. The Israeli military also allegedly killed the ambulance crew dispatched to rescue her.

The first verse takes aim at US police and features footage of student demonstrations all across the country where law enforcement was summoned to disperse the mostly peaceful protests. Macklemore also implies that speech on social media has been suppressed: “You can pay off Meta, you can’t pay off me,” he sings, referring to Facebook’s reported censorship of pro-Palestinian views (Meta has denied that claim). The third verse takes aim at the Gaza conflict itself as well as President Joe Biden’s unwillingness to pressure Israel to change course. “Where does genocide land in your definition?” he asks. “Destroying every college in Gaza and every mosque? Pushing everyone into Rafah and dropping bombs?” — referring to Israel’s military offensive against the city of Rafah, which was supposed to be a safe zone for over a million civilians.

While protest songs experienced a resurgence in the wake of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, musical artists have largely stayed silent until now on the subject of Palestine. But while most people know Macklemore mainly from his 2013 hit “Thrift Shop,” a tongue-in-cheek rap glorifying swag finds from Goodwill, he’s not as unlikely a torch-bearer as you might think for this kind of performance. He’s maintained a surprisingly political catalog, starting with his debut album, 2005’s The Language of My World, which included a track called “White Privilege,” years before the concept of white privilege was well-known within the culture. The song addressed Macklemore’s conflicted feelings on the cultural appropriation of hip-hop by white culture, taking aim at everything from white audiences (“White kids with do-rags trying to practice their accents”) to “controlling” music industry corporations and white artists like himself.

Another track on the album, “Bush Song,” was even more overtly political, mocking then-President George W. Bush for everything from bigoted and sexist politics to the economy and war in Iraq. Macklemore’s most notable political move prior to “Hind’s Hall” came with 2012’s “Same Love,” a song that advocated LGBTQ equality and criticized homophobia within hip-hop culture. 2016 saw him return to the theme of racism with “White Privilege II,” a track he recorded with Jamila Woods. The track covers themes of racist police brutality and the 2014 Black Lives Matter protests over the killing of Michael Brown, protests Macklemore himself participated in.

Macklemore hasn’t escaped political controversy in the past, including an incident that complicates his decision to speak out on the Israel-Hamas war. In 2014, he wore the world’s most ill-judged costume during a performance, featuring a bulbous prosthetic nose, a black wig, and fake beard. Macklemore at first called the outfit “random” but eventually apologized for its antisemitism. Macklemore says on the track that anti-Zionism is not antisemitism, but it’s difficult to try to be the one to parse the difference when you’ve previously appeared in this kind of stereotypical getup in public. Still, missteps or not, Macklemore’s status as an independent artist — not to mention a white artist — puts him in a position to take bolder political stances than most artists. Though “Thrift Shop” catapulted him to huge fame, Macklemore primarily used, and still uses, YouTube and social media to reach his core audience. That worked well for “Hind’s Hall,” enabling the track to go viral on Instagram and Twitter before it even landed on streaming services.

[...]

Protest music isn’t what it used to be

We like to think that activism and music have always gone hand in hand, but despite a long legacy of protest music in the US, it’s been decades since we had sustained musical movements of political change and resistance. The ’90s saw plenty of riot grrrls, and the Iraq War generated its fair share of politicized music in response. These days, however, songs like Green Day’s 2004 “American Idiot” or socially conscious rap like Donald Glover’s “This Is America,” 2018’s anti-gun anthem, are rare.

The arguable death knell for protest in pop may have come in 1992, when Ice T’s heavy metal band Body Count released its eponymous debut album, featuring a still-controversial track called “Cop Killer.” The song, which protested racialized police brutality in the era of the police beating of Rodney King, prompted record stores around the country to remove the album from their shelves. It offended law enforcement organizations so much that they successfully pressured Ice T to remove the track and likely influenced Ice T’s label, Warner Bros., to part ways from the rapper at the arguable peak of his success. To this day, authorized versions of the song are difficult to find. “The early ’90s had a lot of really aggressive protest music, and that’s all gone now,” Patch explained in an interview. “And I think a lot of it has to do with the “Cop Killer” case.” He noted that in addition to Warner Bros. severing its contract with Ice T, several other artists lost their contracts in the wake of “Cop Killer” for similar politically incendiary reasons. The backlash created a chilling effect over the entire industry.

Vox takes a look at Macklemore’s anti-Israel apartheid and pro-Palestinian protest song Hind’s Hall and its place in the world of protest songs.

[cassius-erosennin]

Spoilers for Light Bringer and beyond.

i really, truly, believe that Cassius is the mentor of the next sovereign.

hear me out here for one second:

while brotherhood (and gayness) is definitely one of the main themes of Light Bringer, another overarching theme is the role of mentors, and the relationship formed between students and teachers.

Darrow & Cassius even talk about it, mentioning Atlas and Fá, Lorn and Darrow, Darrow and Alex, Orion and Colloway, and finally Cassius and Lysander. To a lesser extent, Pierce hinted at to how, in the end, Fá would never be that person to Volga because, as Lyria reminded her, this role was already Ephraim’s.

Moving on, its kinda devastating to see how all those mentorships were really impactful to all the aforementioned pairs, EXCEPT cassius and lys, and deep down, cassius knew that since the moment he heard about alex’s death. no pupil of cassius bellona would ever say something like having “no time” for honor. and in fact, all of light bringer is just cassius awaiting for the unavoidable: he always knew lysander would kill him, because he would never kill lysander. and there was no other way for cassius to keep on living with the guilt of having raised someone like lysander.

except… cassius never raised lysander. not really. lysander was a precious child, a gifted child, and a deeply deeply traumatized child. once he came into cassius’ care, he was already fully formed, for good or evil, by octavia and aja. whether lysander admits it or not, octavia and aja are his mentors. thats why ajax always resented him. cassius didn’t raise lysander more than he raised julian. he was a protector of both, not a mentor.

At the same time, you know who never had a mentor? a teacher? Lyria of Lagalos. yes, she had some protectors (kavax, volga), and she had people who taught her hard lessons (her dad, for his behavior. victra, for holding lyria accountable. ephraim… well he kinda was really shitty to her).

And in fact, it is the lack of a mentor which makes lyria feel so lost. she doesn’t know exactly how to define and categorize all her feelings. they are too much. she’s uncomfortable in her skin most of the time. she’s smarter in her head, she gets into trouble when she speaks. shes a bit rough on the edges. cassius sees all that. he understands it better than most. he gives her absolute friendships, no conditions, and even though Lyria is the character with the biggest growth arc in all of RR (yes, even bigger than darrow) being around cassius was that last push for her to be ready close to who she truly is. by the end of Light Bringer, most of what lyria is, has to do with the friendship she built with cassius.

Cassius Bellona will never see what his true pupil becomes: the next sovereign of the Republic.

[tenebrius-excellium]

Hi I like your theories and explanations about Clouxie. And I saw someone do incredible art works for them, I’m just not sure if you have seen those arts before since the artist use #douxaire & #clairxie tags mostly. It’s always good to see someone talk about these two anyway. Hope you have a good day!

Heyyyyy fellow Clouxie stan! This comes a little out of the blue because I haven't really posted Clouxie in a long time, but...thank you, I guess?? I'll check out the art!

And yes I still appreciate Clouxie very much! To me personally, they're a healthier relationship than Jlaire because I think it's important - and so much more enjoyable too! - to earn trust and platonic friendship in a slow-burn first, before going head-first into awkward romance.

The same is true for Ajim. See, I struggle to see the spark in couples that ultimately have different goals in life. Claire is a Wizard, an all-A's student and an actress, while Jim is a Warrior, super chaotic, and a chef. The things they truly have in common is that they're both headstrong and that family is important to them.

To me, Claire + Douxie being Wizards and Jim + Aja being Warriors immediately gives them more reason to spend time together and click with each other. They can have a deeper understanding of one another because they know what it takes to be this person and what it means to answer their call. There's less explaining to do and more intuitive, mutual "knowing" of the other person.

Alternatively, I like to ship Douxie with a Gwen Stacy (ITSV)-like Zoe. He deserves a softer girl than the cynical, sarcastic one we were given canonically in the show. He deserves someone who is sincere about his emotional expression, which is such a huge part of him. It needs to be nurtured, shared, and externally managed sometimes, but not insensitively shut down like I imagine Zoe would.

Idk why I went into such detail on this ask, thanks though haha! :)

You have a great day too!

Cheers

Reddie

EDIT: I'm getting the feeling that you're the op yourself trying to promote your own art, anon. Ignore me if this is not the case, and I apologize for my suspicion. If I'm right though, I would like you to know that asking people to look at your art this way is entirely unnecessary, since people can be talked to normally. I'll bite. But I would like to reassure you that people are kinder than you think. You can speak openly in the ToA fandom, we are very healthy as of late.

EDIT 2: Dude if you really seek to promote your Clouxie art, simply tagging stuff as 'Clouxie' instead of the other two would actually do the job, I think. Clouxie is, as far as I know, the most popular ship name of this pairing anyway.

[jojosleftyadventure]

Welcome!

About:

This is a blog for my Jojo fan part starting Joseph Joestar's severed left hand as the protagonist. There is no title yet, but I do have a basic outline for the plot.

Who is this hand guy?

This "hand guy" is named George Joestar III, but he prefers to go by his nickname, Joja. After plummeting to Earth, he landed right besides Joseph before being recovered to be reattached. This does not go as planned, as the bandaged limb started moving on its own. After spending time with his temporarily bedridden owner (Joseph), and Suzi Q, he learned to come to terms with his sentience and aspires to be a proper member of the Joestar family and Joseph's new (unorthodox) son.

How old is Joja?

While Joja is physically the same age as his father, and he was sorta "born" an adult. He doesn't really develop like a human would, though, as he has all of the memories of being Joseph's hand, but he only became sentient recently. It's like booting up a new computer with stuff from your old PC in its hard drive. I suppose it's just the nature of an artificial life like this?

Does he eat? Does he poop?

Yes and no. Joja is a being created via a cocktail of Hamon, weird pillar man bullshit, and Super Aja energy. So like, his body is really weird morphologically since he's a talking hand. Don't take it too seriously, Araki throws logic out the window and I will too.

How does Joja...do anything?

Joja gets around with a combo of crawling on his fingers, climbing, and using hamon to boost himself upwards. Trust him, he's a pretty talented little guy.

No, I mean, how can you make a fan part about a body part? What's wrong with you?

First, keep your pants on, second, I have a lovely laundry list of mental illnesses. You don't need to tell me I'm cringe or crazy, your mom told me that last night, now eat your vegetables, son.

Are you open to RP?

I'M A SLUT FOR RP, DAWG. This is also a bit of an ask blog too. Talk to my little boy!

Where does this take place on the timeline?

Joja was "born" February 28th, 1939 (Pisces baby!). This blog will primarily be set in like 1940, but if you have questions about him interacting with characters in the future, I can bend the rules a bit. (He, like Joseph, is alive in the Phantom Bloodverse up until Pucci did Pucci things, so he'd be familiar with the whole crew.)

Okay, how do family relations work out with Joja?

Grab some popcorn and take a seat. Basically, Joja is treated like a son by Joseph. I know that if your hand came to life and started talking, they would sort of genetically be your clone (like a twin brother or something), but in this world, Joja is one of Joseph's three kids. With that being the case, Holly is his baby sister and Suzi Q is sort of a mother figure to him. That also means that he is Jotaro's uncle and Jolyne's grunkle. As for Giorno... you do the math. I'm sorry I threw a hand-shaped monkey wrench into the Joestar family tree.

What about Josuke?

In this universe, Joseph has a better head on his shoulders and doesn't go around fucking Japanese college students (Without protection). Instead, Joja met Tomoko and really hit it off with her in Morioh. She's his wife! As for Josuke, Joseph is his surrogate father, on account of Joja lacking reproductive organs (since he's a hand).

Boy Reference

[ewritesfanfics]

Day 2: Memories

@krexieweek

https://archiveofourown.org/works/36841816

Krel does not like this mud-ball.

It is primitive to an infuriating degree, and its customs are weird and shrouded in language that does not mean what the words indicate it should mean! It’s maddening!

He also does not like this school.

The math is on-par with what Akiridion children learn, and he does not know why the drapes are blue in this human book and the teacher keeps asking him despite him not being the writer, and in gym class, he has been forced to run long a long distance with no end goal! Why do the humans run for long distances in circles? They are going nowhere and accomplishing nothing!

So deep in his stewing and grumbling, Krel Tarron manages to run face-first into the open door of the locker.

On the ground, he vaguely wonders what would happen he just laid here and refused to get up.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, are you alright?”

He sits up slowly, rubbing at the sore spot on his head, and comes face-to-face with a girl dressed in purple who has a streak of white in her dark hair. She looks surprised to see him.

“Uh, you’re one of the new kids, aren’t you? Um, it’s Krel, right?”

“How do you know my name?”

“You have a couple of classes with some of my friends. According to Eli, you’re really something in math.”

“Well at least someone here appreciates my genius.”

She sticks out her hand. Why does she stick out her hand?

“I’ll help you up, give me your hand,” she says after an awkward few seconds of him just staring at her hand. He does as she says, and sure enough, she pulls, allowing him to get leverage with his feet and stand back up with ease.

“Thank you,” he says stiffly, “Uh … what is your name?” He figures he should at least ask for her name since she already knows his. That’s something humans consider polite, right?

“Oh, I’m Claire Nuñez! It’s nice to meet you. Since you’re new, would you and your sister like to hang out with me and my friends after school? We could show you some of the hot hangout spots around town.”

“What does the temperature of a spot have to do with its potential for ‘hanging out’?” He’s just glad he got the explanation for what ‘hanging out’ is a couple of delsons ago, otherwise he’s certain what she just said would have been completely incomprehensible.

“It’s just a way to say these places are popular, and lots of people like them,” she says patiently, far more patiently than anyone else Krel’s encountered thus far, not even batting an eye at Krel’s misunderstanding of the phrase.

“So, you actually want to hangout … in popular spaces with lots of other people … with my sister … and me?”

“Yeah! Think of it as an apology for the locker, and as a ‘welcome to Arcadia’ kind of thing.”

“I should probably speak to her first …”

“Well, if she wants to come, my friends and I will hang around the school’s front entrance a few minutes longer than normal.”

  At the end of the school day, they do go and meet Claire outside of the school.

“Hey! Glad you decided to come!” she calls out as they approach.

“You are Claire, yes?” Aja asks.

“That’s right. And I think I’ve heard people call you Aja?”

“Yes, that’s my name!”

“Well, Aja, Krel, these are my friends Jim and Toby. Jim, Toby, these are the new exchange students.”

With her are two boys, one short and rotund and clad in orange and yellow, the other lanky and skinny and clad in blue.

Something stirs in the back of his mind, and he gets an odd feeling when looking at the trio, though he can’t quite pinpoint exactly what that feeling is.

“Hello! So, where are we going?” Aja asks excitedly.

“Come with us and you’ll see!” Jim says, beckoning them to follow.

They follow the humans for what seems like forever, the walk dragging on and on, but then they come upon a bridge, and then the humans are insisting they go down into the large concrete canal. Krel and Aja are ushered beneath the metal structure and placed in front of a wall.

“Um, what is going on?” he asks.

But even before the humans can answer that …

“Step away from the princelings!”

“Ugh, Varvatos!” Aja groans as their guardian hustles over, his serrator out and poised to attack.

“We’re fine, Varvatos! They just wanted to hang out after school. They are showing us places popular amongst the teenagers,” Krel says, rolling his eyes.

“Then you should have alerted me that you would not be coming home directly after your school! As far as Varvatos knew, you could have been hurt or taken by bounty hunters!”

“Varvatos, hush!” Aja says frantically.

“Actually, it’s good he’s here,” Claire says.

“Huh?” Krel asks.

Jim just smiles and pulls this weird, glowing orange rock from his bag, and it’s unlike any rock Krel has seen on Earth. He watches in fascination as the tip of the rock is placed against the wall, and as Jim drags it in an arch, a blue light is left in its wake. With a press of his hand to the center, a doorway opens.

Krel is too stunned to speak.

“Lively,” Aja mutters in awe.

The three humans file inside, waving them on. They follow, but not before Varvatos steps in front of them with a huff, insisting on going first to ensure it is safe.

Once everyone’s inside, the doorway closes behind them. In front of them, a giant staircase made from glowing blue crystals descends into the depths.

“What is this place?” Krel asks, finally pushing past the block.

“Before that … For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command!”

There’s an intense flash of blue that explodes outward from a metal circle held in Jim’s hand. This circle is placed on his chest as pieces of armor appear out of nowhere and cover his body until he is clad in a full suit with a massive sword is slung across his back.

“It is an ambush!” Varvatos cries.

Before Krel or Aja can stop him, Varvatos leaps forward, his serrator forming a sword, and the Jim human easily sidesteps. A hand touches Varvatos briefly on the shoulder, and during this moment of contact, a green light flashes from beneath his hand and from within the circle. Varvatos gasps and sinks to his knees, eyes staring off into space.

“What did you do to him?” Aja gasps.

“Eh, just a reminder.”

He then steps forward before either of them can react to that statement and places one hand on Krel’s shoulder and one on Aja’s. The same green light flashes. And then pain splits through Krel’s head, a feeling as if his very mind is getting pulled in every direction to its very limits.

Images flash in front of his eyes at an incredible speed, sending splitting pain through his head as emotions and knowledge and experiences flood in, blocking out all senses.

Bounty hunters and Varvatos’ betrayal and the Eternal Night.

Kubritz and Area 49-B and Stuart.

Gaylen’s core and an apocalypse and deciding to stay on Earth.

The Arcane Order and Titans and the Krohnisfere.

He can feel the pain of his knees hitting stone, but there’s too much happening in his head, too much, too much …

And then, as quickly as it came, it’s gone.

“J-Jim ..?” he just barely manages to croak out.

“Sorry we didn’t get you guys sooner, we honestly had no idea you guys were in town already,” Claire says.

Krel blinks his eyes, trying to clear away the last vestiges of the magic, and he looks up at the three humans. The three Trollhunters. Three of the best friends he’s ever had, and three people who he’d trust his life with. Three people he’d follow to the ends of the Earth and back, and who would do the same for him.

Beside him, Aja stumbles to her feet, and she looks far older than she had mere minutes ago, the weight of being Queen settling onto her shoulders and lifting her head up high. Beyond Jim, Varvatos too has gotten to his feet and is asking Toby about his grandmother.

Krel looks back at Jim who is still in front of him, and is holding a hand out, much as Claire had earlier.

That chasm of fear and loneliness that had yawned wide in his chest since they had to flee Akiridion 5 is gone, entirely, and a hole he hadn’t even known was there is filled.

He clasps the hand, a familiar gesture between allies and friends, and stands.

“Now, come on. There are some people waiting for us down in Trollmarket,” Jim says.

  He’d never seen Trollmarket in its true splendor before, the place gutted and abandoned by the time he and Aja were brought down here the first go around – a mere shadow of what it had once been, a desolate place of pain and loss.

Now though, it’s bright and brimming with life. There’s an energy to it all that seems to envelop him, and if he weren’t heading somewhere specific, he’s certain he’d be going through each and every store to marvel at everything.

Many of the trolls look discomforted at their presence, which he and Aja both find a little odd at first, but Jim says it’s because they’re still wearing their transductions and so the trolls think they’re more humans – and at this point, the transductions can’t be taken off at will yet. So, they’ll be stuck like this until about 7 o’clock.

But all of his thoughts of constructing portable transductions again are forgotten once they enter Vendel’s inner sanctum or whatever inside the heartstone itself.

Around a table, various people are gathered. Blinky stands by Aaarrrgghh, the two of whom are conversing with … Merlin, unfortunately … and Vendel, who he recognizes from his Mama and Papa’s memory. Beside them are Barbara and Strickler. Then there’s Nomura and a large blue troll Krel is guessing is the one named Draal, he fits the description Jim had given. NotEnrique is joking with Steve and Eli. And then there’s Zoe who’s talking with Archie and –

“Douxie …”

He doesn’t consciously move, but the next thing he knows, he’s flung himself at Douxie, and the two go tumbling to the ground.

He’s now chest to chest with the wizard, brown staring into gold, Krel’s arms holding him up while Douxie’s arms are wrapped around his waist.

“I missed you,” Douxie says.

“We promised each other that we would find each other again, some way, somehow. I am just sorry it took me so long.”

“No need for that, love. We’re both here now, aren’t we?”

Krel presses his forehead to Douxie’s, a traditional Akiridion display of affection, and Douxie huffs out a small, fond chuckle.

“Hisirdoux, what in the name of Mordrax are you doing?”

Krel looks up to see Merlin staring down at them, and while still a tad exasperated, his expression is more perplexed than anything else.

“Varvatos would also like to know what is happening with the King-in-Waiting and the wizard,” Krel hears from behind them.

“So would I,” Aja says pointedly, and Krel winces.

Right, I didn’t have the chance to tell her before the ordeal with the titans.

“Just give them their moment,” Jim says, and Krel silently thanks the Trollhunter.

“Fuzzbuckets, now we actually have to do the ‘meet the parents’ thing.”

A realization strikes Krel, and he looks back down at Douxie excitedly.

“Yes! And now it’s not just Varvatos, you can actually meet Mama and Papa! They won’t have to sacrifice themselves!”

Douxie gives Krel a 1000-watt smile, joy practically radiating off of him. His hands move from Krel’s waist up to cup his face, gently brushing the hair from his face.

“I can’t wait.”

[yellowmagicalgirl]

Post-Game Blues

Every red-blooded male student at Arcadia Oaks High knows how traitorous it is to fraternize with the Arcadia Oaks Academy Moonrats. Steve has a friend with cyan blood.

For the record, this is an AU where Wizards just doesn’t happen.

I have attended exactly one high school game in my entire life, and I spent most of it staring at the cheerleaders. Expect some artistic license on what little I wrote about the football game.

I couldn't remember the exact layout of Arcadia Oaks High, so I ended up replacing it with the layout of my own high school.

CW: Steve thinking that Douxie is assaulting Krel (Steve is merely overprotective and mistaken, don’t worry) and references to toxic relationships and homophobia

AO3

FFN

They had won.

Steve had led them to victory, and this was their moment of glory.

The Arcadia Oaks High Moles had beaten the Arcadia Oaks Academy Moonrats at tonight’s home game, and they could suck it!

As was tradition, after the game Steve went to find go find his friends. Except, this year, it wasn’t to go find his teammates. It stung, but Steve had grown up a lot in the past almost-half year. He’d gone from a self-absorbed jerk who picked on anyone he perceived as lame to a guardian who defended the city and didn’t take his anger out on those undeserving. Well, he didn’t do it often, anyways. His therapist said it would probably take a while for him to completely outgrow the toxic mindset his bio-dad had instilled in him, and his former friends had encouraged.

Unfortunately, Steve’s two best friends on the football team hadn’t even begun to outgrow the toxic mindset. There was a reason why Steve didn’t hang out with Seamus and Logan outside of practice anymore. Several reasons, actually, but they pretty much all came back to either the fact that Seamus and Logan were still acting like douchebags, or the fact that Steve had bonded in battle with people that he and his former friends had once dubbed lame.

So instead of going to find Seamus and Logan so they could celebrate their crushing victory over the moonrats with pizza and root beer, Steve walked around to go find Toby and Krel to… probably celebrate with pizza and root beer, anyways. Darci, too, since she was here anyways, and she was in their friend group. And for that matter, maybe they’d invite Mary too since she might’ve showed up, though hopefully she was supporting the proper team instead of using the game as an excuse to go make out with Tight Jeans Hank. If she was still together with him, anyways. Steve was pretty sure that Darci was the only one other than Mary who could still keep track of Mary’s whirlwind romances.

Steve jogged up to Toby and Darci where they were sharing an Italian ice near the entrance of the bleachers. “Hey, you two want to – where’s Krel?”

“He left the bleachers, like, five minutes before the game ended?” Toby said.

Steve pouted, but not just because that meant Krel would have missed Steve’s awesome touchdown. “Really? Did he seem okay?”

“I think he was just bored. You know how Krel is, not interested in sports.” And then Toby muttered something under his breath, probably something along the lines of “me either.” These days, most of Steve’s friends weren’t jocks like him. At least Toby was dating the mole, which meant that he was into a vital aspect of sports if not sports themselves.

“You know where he went?” Steve was, well, he wasn’t worried about Krel. He was just a tiny bit concerned. Ever since Krel’s parents had died and Aja had left, Krel had seemed so adrift. He’d grown even more distant in the past two weeks, and so Steve and Toby had dragged him to the game. Well, mostly Steve had done the dragging, with Toby giving pleading looks about not wanting to be alone for the game.

Toby shook his head and frowned. “Didn’t say. He was on his phone.”

And Krel was far too accident-prone to walk while staring at a screen, especially if he was in his human form like he tended to be whenever he didn’t want to attract attention.

“He’s probably not far. I’ll go looking for him.”

“Do you want us to come with you?” Darci asked “See if he’s okay?”

Krel was probably fine, but Steve still couldn’t shake the unease. Besides, this was Arcadia Oaks. The world had nearly ended three times last summer, and troll-and-extraterrestrial attacks happened all the time last year. Just because things were peaceful these days it didn’t mean they wouldn’t take a turn for the worse (especially if Eli’s texted wizard conspiracy theories were to be believed).

“Stay here, and I’ll text you if there’s trouble.”

And then Steve began his trek around campus. He didn’t need to go far, just over to the bungalows when he saw a familiar glowing cyan form, perhaps glowing a little brighter than normal. Like Steve had suspected, Krel wasn’t far.

Except, Krel’s form was obscured by the marching band uniform of Arcadia Oaks Academy. No, Krel wasn’t wearing it; he was far too loyal to betray the moles like that by affiliating with the moonrats. The marching band uniform was being worn by a dark-haired guy pinning Krel to the bungalow by his upper two wrists as the guy kissed Krel.

Steve knew Krel didn’t like the idea of romance or kissing. It wasn’t just him being grossed out by his family member dating; Krel had been so confused by Mary’s whirlwind love life, more than just about anyone else at the school. Krel had also joined Steve in demanding that Toby and Darci get a room for their PDA. Krel wasn’t the type of person to sneak away from a football game to go make out, so that meant that this moonrat piece of shit was…

Steve’s hands curled into fists as he quickened his pace. Steve didn’t have his bat with him, but he didn’t need it to take down a fellow human. Steve was a Creepslayer, and he would slay this creep.

But before Steve could get too close, he heard a clicking noise that made him slow his jog from surprise. He’d heard that clicking noise before, but only from Aja when she was in her Akiridion form. It was a noise that meant “yes please continue kissing me like that.” Aja had been concerned over the fact that a human moan could mean both pain and pleasure, while Akiridion moans only meant the former.

Krel clicked again, more loudly this time. He laced one of his lower hands through the guy’s hair, making a fist in it. The other hand Krel rested on the guy’s back, grasping at the back of his uniform before slowly making its way downwards.

“Krel?” Steve interrupted before the kissing and Krel’s hand could go any further, feeling and sounding embarrassed and confused from what he’d heard and seen. Krel quickly pulled his wrists down from where they’d been pinned and released the guy’s body from his other hands. The guy took a half step away from Krel, his long face very red. His eyes were wide, and he postured himself like he would protect Krel from Steve, should anything go wrong.

“Steve! What are you doing here?” Steve remembered how Krel had used almost the exact same tone and expression the last time Steve and Toby had shown up to drag Krel out of his lab. Away from something he enjoyed being alone with. He sounded more shocked and embarrassed now, so at least that made two of them.

“Looking for you.”

Steve watched as the guy – Krel’s secret moonrat boyfriend? – turned to whisper something in, well, Steve still wasn’t sure if Aja and Krel had ears under their clothes or not, but it was where a human ear would be. And as Krel turned to the guy, it was easy to see Krel’s face morph into something far happier. Krel whispered something back, and the guy’s stance relaxed.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to keep you from your friends for so long, love,” Krel’s boyfriend said. “I’ll, uh, I should probably go. Early shift tomorrow.”

“Stay safe, Douxie,” Krel said, and Steve raised an eyebrow. What kind of name was that? He knew the moonrats were weird and from the rich side of town, but he hadn’t ever heard a name that weird. Maybe it was some sort of Akiridion pet name. Steve wouldn’t have pegged Krel for the type of guy to use pet names for his boyfriend, but Steve also hadn’t pegged Krel for the type of guy to date anyone.

Krel kissed his boyfriend on the cheek. The moonrat grinned like Krel had hung the moon and stars before running off. Krel watched him go with a lovesick expression, even after his form had faded into the darkness. And then, Krel whirled on Steve, fury and determination in his posture.

“Aja learns none of this.”

Wait, Krel hadn’t told Aja? Even if Krel dating at all didn’t sound like him, it felt very wrong for Krel to keep something so big from his twin sister.

“Did he put you up to this?” Steve asked, glancing back to where Krel’s boyfriend had run off. “Not telling us?”

“What? No. I was the one who brought up not wanting to tell you guys, not Douxie.” Krel wrapped his arms around himself.

“That… don’t tell me that’s actually his name.”

“You’re correct,” Krel said, and oh was the weirdness continuing, because Steve had never heard Krel say those words to anyone in a tone that wasn’t annoyed or smug, but if anything, Krel’s tone was soft. Perhaps a little guarded, but soft. “It’s the last syllable of his name with a diminutive suffix.” Oh, great, Krel was branching out his nerdiness into linguistics. But also, who gave their kid a name with that syllable at the end? Steve almost felt bad for Douxie.

Almost. His suspicion outweighed his pity.

“But how’d he feel about you hiding your relationship from us?”

Krel shrugged, looking away. “I mean, he understands not wanting a reaction.”

“Not wanting a…” Lead sunk deep in Steve’s stomach as he remembered Douxie’s protective stance. Sure, Arcadia Oaks was a pretty accepting place, but it’d only been two years since gay marriage had become legal country wide. And Steve knew the stereotypes about football players because he’d almost been one of those stereotypes a year ago. The main difference was that the football team included a pair of gay guys who managed to embody all the rest of the lessons of toxic masculinity. Even then, Steve had gotten into fights with some of the other football players over his friends being gay. Now if only those friends would quit being assholes.

“Krel,” Steve began softly. “You do know that none of us will hurt or make fun of you for being gay, right? You or Douxie.” Besides, Steve was pretty sure Darci had two dads, and Toby was pan.

“I actually keep forgetting people have a problem with that, on Earth,” Krel said. “Even my parents would’ve accepted me marrying another man, as long as he was a high enough status, and one or both of us was willing to undergo a couple of temporary medical procedures so we could beget an heir.” Krel wrinkled his nose at the last few words, but as his face smoothed a dark look came with it. “I think some people have given Douxie problems for that. I wish I could find them. I’ve been working on some long-range serrator upgrades.”

Steve swallowed. He’d forgotten how scary Krel could look when he was angry. “When you said, ‘not wanting a reaction,’ what did you mean?”

Krel sighed and activated his transduction. “You’re already having a reaction.”

“Yes, well, if you’d just told me about you and Douxie instead of me walking in on you two, I wouldn’t be having a reaction.”

“Yes, you would. Not this same reaction, but you would. You all would. I know this isn’t normal for me. I don’t get these feelings.”

“I mean, yeah, you dating is pretty weird for you” – Krel glared – “but from what Aja told me you two were pretty sheltered, especially since you didn’t sneak out.”

“No, it wasn’t just how I was raised. Before Aja snuck out for the first time, she had already gushed to me about a dozen different crushes on intergalactic pop stars and athletes. I never had a single crush before this summer. I’ve never gotten these types of feelings for anyone. Ever. In my entire life. I didn’t even get feelings for Douxie until we’d known each other for weeks.”

“Wait, really? Not even a little crush?” Krel looked even more uncomfortable, so Steve decided to change the subject. “So, uh, how’d you and Douxie meet?”

“Well, we sort of, er, bumped into each other? A couple nights after… a couple nights after I decided to stay on Earth, that is.” Slowly, the melancholy look on Krel’s face turned into a smile. “Well, he claims we met at the Battle of the Bands, but I don’t remember so I don’t count that. I think that’s when he got a crush on me. And we kept texting, and I kept coming over to hang out with him at his shifts at the bookstore when I wasn’t working in my lab or hanging out with you guys. And then, a parson ago, I suddenly had feelings for him. I don’t know why, but one day we were friends and the next I was fighting against the realization I was in love with him.”

“When’d you two start dating?”

“Two weeks ago.”

“Oh, so that’s why you got all distant.” Steve swallowed down his school loyalty, as traitorous as it felt to do so. Douxie was a moonrat, but he also made Krel happy. “You should invite him to hang out with us sometime. It’d probably be easier than keeping him a secret.”

“Uh, no. They’re going to be all weird about us.”

“Only for a little bit! And they’ll probably have less of a reaction than me, as long as you tell them instead of making them find you two making out. Though, good luck telling Eli you’re dating a guy from our rival school.”

“Exactly! No one we both know is going to find out!”

[purplerose244]

Irrational - Chapter 1: The first star in the morning

​Hello everyone!! The @spacecampweek is finally here!! 😍

I cannot wait to see all the content for these two math dorks! Here is my contribution, a collection of oneshots including all the prompts, starting with the first, “Stars”! ✨

Enjoy!! 💙💙

Summary: Seamus was going to smack that idiot of his best friend right in the head for putting him into this situation. A private moment with his little crush, sure, what a marvelous plan of his! There was only one thing he didn’t take into account: this space nerd’s absolutely terrible flirting techniques.

Read it on the AO3

“… have I… have I told you about that time I went for the tryouts of the basketball team?” Seamus huffed with superiority, mostly for the sake of breathing out some air on this overly hot day. “I’m sure you can tell, I’m a pretty athletic person. The only reason I didn’t join was because I needed to keep up my grades or whatever, school is a total pain.” He smirked towards his right. “Maybe I can bring you to the gym sometimes, teach you how to make three-pointers? I’m sure you’d like that.” His overly confident tone fell into oblivion, as silent kept prevailing. He could feel the sweat going down his neck, behind the high collar of his black jacket.

Good lord, he was wearing a leather jacket. A freaking. Leather. Jacket. When he thought this day couldn’t get any more awkward.

“Four.” Seamus jumped over his seat.

“Huh?”

“Four times.” At last, the Cantaloupian had finally raised his eyes from his phone, showing him the most annoyed look he had ever seen on a human being. “You have mentioned this casket sport of yours at least four times tonight. Merely to answer your question.” Without much of a nod or an impressed look, his pretty nose went back to the lightened-up screen. Never mind, this day had all the chances to get plenty of more awkward.

He was losing him. Oh gosh, he was totally blowing it.

This made no sense! Sure he and Tight Jeans Hank had gone out only a few times before he got head over heels for Mary, but he was totally into the three-pointer thing! Sure, making up an excuse after that on why they never actually went to the gym had been a little draining, a little shameful, but at least there was that! He wasn’t completely out of his game.

… was he? Quick, another one! Huh, what did work out with that one guy from math class before he discovered he liked astronomy better?

“Huh, uhm… you know one time we got Mrs. Janeth so mad I was called into the principal’s office, but I got out without a single problem! You didn’t expect me to be this much of a bad boy, didn’t you? Yeah, this math student is good with numbers as a cover, my call is… being… mischievous…” Oh the cringe. It was going to be all worth it if he got at least a change from the guy sitting at the passenger’s seat. “Heh, people still wonder how I did it.” He grinned towards him, wiggling his eyebrows. “I could tell you, but it has to be… our secret.” Wow. He was channeling his interior Steve. The only difference was that that knucklehead at least was actually good at sports and actually good at getting into troubles.

Heck, even Pepperjack was more of a rebel!

Ah. Silence. Not even the Cantaloupian checking his phone was making any noise.

“Uh-huh.” His eyes were still all over the screen. He didn’t even bother to give him a look this time. “Would not be much of a secret in that case, now would it.”

The blonde was starting to think there was some kind of massive secret stored into that device. His eyes fell on it. Nope, this guy was literally tapping onto apps and exiting them without doing anything. Seamus almost laugh at the awfulness of all, wondering if it was too late running out in the woods and hope his allergy was going to kill him sooner or later. Then he stumbled with his memory to Spring Fling, the date he got – that had spent most of the night making out with someone else in the bathroom, but still.

Alright, confident. An intriguing, intimidating guy, one Krel might wanna know better.

“W-well, the best part of having secrets is sharing it with others! Saying, see this bruise I have?” He pointed at his temple, panicking for a second to remember where it was. His mind went right, and he really hope he wasn’t just pointing at his cheek like an idiot. “I got into this massive fight after class, it was insane! I won’t bore you with details, the usual argument with those bozos from our rival school, but if you think this dent is bad you should see the other guys! Pretty cool huh?”

Silence again.

A sigh. It held together such an annoyed power it left him baffled for a second. Krel was narrowing his eyes so much they looked closed.

“Forgive me, I am still trying to master the art of sarcasm, so I will have to warn you beforehand: I am about to use it.” He cleared his voice. “Wow, that is impressive and totally not an idiotic behavior, thank you very much for telling me.” He made a very forced, very exaggerated smile, before dropping it while still looking at him and then going back at losing time on the phone.

More death wishes filled him. Seamus grimaced, sneezed, and checked if the windows were actually closed while grunting under his breath. He breathed through his nose, hands gripping the wheel simply to have something to do.

It was official. This was the worst first non-date of history, and it was all his fault.

… or Steve’s. Yeah, Steve’s fault sounded better.

The ground of the woods was most likely all over the wheels of dad’s car which was going to drive him mad once again, the occasional sniff of pollen into the air had been making his eyes tear up even since they got here – the windows were actually closed, how, stupid allergy –, and he was stuck there ruining all the chances he never had in the first place. Yes, it made so much more sense blaming that good for nothing jock. The only reason Seamus was there in the first place was because his Vespa was out of service – he had said something something creeper walking on the crosswalk, he had stopped listening at some point –, and he had promised his girlfriend to go back to the kissing tree as soon as the situation was calmer or whatever. Seamus, being the good friend he was – especially since Logan was grounded –, had joined in to give them a lift and wait in the car for the two lovebirds to have their mushy moments, feeling extremely single in the process.

When he had seen Aja and Steve getting out of the Tarron’s residence, Seamus had waved.

When he had seen coming along as well none other than Krel Tarron, he had briefly considered pushing onto the accelerator and leaving everyone and everything into the dust. His body had not complied – the traitor. The happy couple had positioned themselves in the back seats, with Aja saying her little brother had decided not to be a recluse for tonight, while the Cantaloupian genius had comfortably seated himself next to him, giving a smile.

A smile.

How dare he? A smile!?

It was Steve’s fault, it definitely was. There was no way Krel would have come out of his own will, it was notorious he despised social gatherings with intellectually inferior people – mood – and hated nature even more – bigger mood. His sister had never been able to convince him before, he knew that because Steve had made it a habit narrating his escapades with Aja after every single date, and it had always started with “We left the buttsnack home and…”. The first time Seamus offered a ride home to the two of them, and magically the little crush he had only confided to Steve and Logan – and Mary but Mary was gossip queen so that didn’t count – had decided to tag along with them. Suspicious, very suspicious.

So, there they were. They had been stuck into his car for an hour at least now, waiting to check if Aja and Steve planned on staying here for longer or eventually head back. Seamus really hoped for the second. He had no idea how the tension had raised up to this point, nothing was working! Krel was barely acknowledging him, and he was starting to wonder why he decided to join in in the first place. Maybe he lost a bet with Steve or something, that would have explained it.

… it did explain it. He was here against his will, with him, having the worst time of his life. Seamus pressed his lips together, the silence weighting onto his stomach. Maybe he could ask something else? What more anecdotes did he have left? The full score at Alex, getting kicked out of Sam’s…

… why was he feeling worse?

His phone vibrated right there. He had no doubt who was disturbing and judging by the sudden vibration from Krel’s phone the other half of the couple was sending similar messages.

THEPalchuk: Hey man

THEPalchuk: Me and Aja are staying around more

THEPalchuk: Pick us up in one hour?

THEPalchuk: Thanks you’re the best!

Great, like he wasn’t currently questioning his flirting skills as much as his entire persona. What was left in his repertoire? Nothing was helping so far, maybe he needed another approach. What choice did he have though? His stories were usually somehow effective, being like Steve didn’t seem better, Mary just so happened to have guys always in line for her for whatever reason, what else could he…

“Johnson?” He held back another jump, because Krel was finally looking at him and it was progress and- “Would it be too much bother if I asked you to bring me back home?”

Oh. Oh.

In his head played the game over soundtrack from GoGo Sushi. Dang it. He wished he had more time to prepare for this day, but right now it felt like it was inevitable. He definitely did something, said something weird. Was there even a possibility in the first place? With someone like him? He had met Krel Tarron in between classes on a completely random day: the guy had completely destroyed Mrs. Janeth’s theory about triangles without breaking a sweat, had broken into the science lab apparently making a mess of the only functioning computer, and had gotten sent to the principal at the end of the day as a result, without getting into troubles afterwards. This guy had managed to be an absolute nonconformist and a shameless rebel… using math.

Yeah, he was on another level, there was no point. He was so going to scream at Steve on organizing this, it was meant to go bad. Worst of all, it didn’t feel like he could get over it anytime soon. Maybe because it was something that didn’t even start.

He started the car, holding back a sigh.

“No problem, right away.” Krel gave him a mild grateful smile, and Seamus felt the urge to cry.

The trip back was somehow even more awkward than the hour spent waiting. Not necessarily for the deadly silence still permeating the car, mostly for the amount of thoughts that were running wildly into his head. What now? He didn’t even know if the Cantaloupian had noticed his attempts at flirting, did he reject him or was he simply so bored he couldn’t take it anymore? Did it matter? The natural consequence was to stay as far away as possible and ignore his entire existence during high school, then get into the furthest college possible – Australia sounded good – and forget about finding love forever. Sure Krel was in most of his classes, and that guy was most likely going to be an Elite student with him and Claire, which meant they were going to be paired up for some stupid vanity event of the school; also he happened to be his best friend’s girlfriend’s brother, so no way it was the last he was ever going to see him, but he could deal with it.

He could… deal with it…

… he didn’t want to, though. He didn’t want to stop talking to him or stop wishing to talk to him. That guy was in sync with his friends, he was so smart it was unbelievable, he was fun to be around and even right now that the embarrassment was at its peak, Seamus couldn’t help noticing how pretty he was, somehow even in the act of ignoring his existence. In light of all of this, was this really the only way to go? It always was with the other guys…

There was a stop ahead. He respected it, lightly biting his lip. No, with all the others he never made contact after failure because he never cared for it, because they weren’t good people, and because he didn’t want to admit how much he had made up for the sake of one terrible date. He could reach a compromise, right? To be able to talk with him. Nothing in between, only the truth.

His very dorky, uncool truth.

He continued to drive, pondering over everything, only to notice a parking spot next to the crosswalk. He went, noticing the other’s weird look on him. He hurried to speak before he could.

“I’ve never been at the tryouts.” Krel fully turned to him, eyes widened.

“… what?” Seamus winced, rubbing his neck.

“The basketball thing? I never did it. I wanted to, I’m really not bad at it… but I didn’t finish homework for that day and my dad didn’t let me.” Ah, there it came, the absolute shame – gently provided by Mr. Johnson, trademark. “The grades stuff, that’s kinda the excuse I always use whenever someone ask me why I’m not in the team. It’s not exactly a lie, but it’s better than saying I have no freedom at all.” The Cantaloupian looked baffled. The blonde took it as a chance to keep going. “As for the principal call, you wanna actually know the secret? I was never in trouble in the first place, Mrs. Janeth wanted to personally congratulate for making it into the International Mathematical Olympiad. I didn’t want people to think I was lame.” Gosh it burned. It felt kinda nice but it was also awful. He sighed at the end, pointing at his temple. “And about this? The fight? As if, I tripped on my way to the planetarium… because I love space… and there people don’t make fun of me for it.” Oh. He didn’t mean that last one, he didn’t want it to hurt. It still did. Not even Steve or Logan knew why he had been keeping his passion lowkey only for close friends.

It was good… it was good, right? It was as genuine as he could get, because despite everything he still wanted to be able to look at him in the eyes without second guessing himself. He was a lame-o who could barely do anything without his dad’s approval, he was an absolute nerd who was good at math only because he had to, and he was a dork with an absolute passion for space that got him so much mockery in the past, before he started to mock back.

A leaf flew over the windshield of the car. He could feel his sweat turning into ice. Was it too late after all? He lost his chance with Krel even at being a friend? He could feel his eyes on him.

It was silence. Then, a long sigh of relief came from him.

“Oh thank Seklos, I was convinced you were being serious before.”

… huh?

“Huh?” He looked at him. Krel was smiling. He was… smiling? “Before?”

“You were turning into an even bigger oaf than Steve is, which is quite the accomplishment let me tell you.” He looked down, finally putting away his phone. Despite wishing for it the entire time, Seamus felt a wave of anxiety rushing over. “I knew for a fact that I was going to be in your company during the entire time, given that the Staja is a force too chaotic to be around without risking someone’s life.” Despite the tension the blonde snorted. The Cantaloupian seemed to like that. “I was even looking forward to it. I’ve always wondered about the sleeping guy from class.”

Holy. Freaking. Mole.

Seamus was agape, he was pretty sure his jaw was dislocated without repair. He wasn’t sure if this was actually happening, or the last sniff of pollen had put him into a state of hallucination – he didn’t mind trading an anaphylactic shock for this. He managed to breathe again after a while, trying to remember how to speak words.

“Wait- You- I… you were watching me too?” Ah, why the too, why did he have to admit of staring at him while trying to stay awake during class? Why was he such a-

Wow. Wow. Was that embarrassment?

Coming from the prideful Krel Tarron?

“I was… mildly checking.” Okay, this was definitely a coma-induced dream, no way he was that lucky – and could this guy stop looking this adorably shy, he needed his heart to come back to life. “You always raise your hand when Mrs. Janeth asks something, even before the question has been said. You seem to be constantly bored during the lesson, which I can completely understand. You seem to be one of the few people who can at least dream to measure up with me in regard of intellect.” Mm, maybe this was actually real, somehow that came out extremely irritating and incredibly endearing at the same time. “I was interested into knowing that person tonight… I have not seen him for now.” His eyes went down, a little bitterly.

He was going to care about that in a moment. First, his mind needed to compute. What was happening here? Were Steve and Logan into this? Were they following him with a black car from afar ready to scare the crap out of him as soon as he was going to believe that a guy this cool actually wanted to know the real him?

… jeez, he really needed to work onto his self-esteem.

Besides, it was Krel, the frankest person he had ever met. There was no way he was pretending, he was so sure it almost scared him.

Apparently, this was happening, this was a meeting of some sort. One that for now, he had been screwing up big time. He was trying so hard to be liked, trying the best that had worked before, but did it work really? He had never actually been in a relationship, every single guy had evaporated as soon as they had found something better to do than hang out with this weird space nerd. Instead, Krel was waiting. Krel was there to actually know about that part of him.

The real him.

“… are you really in a hurry to come back home?” He got a confused stare. But if he really had something close to a chance, he was fine with making it interesting. “In case not… could I arrange a meeting?” He forced a very nervous smile. “Between you and him?”

Krel looked at him in surprise.

Then he smiled. He smiled.

“Alright, one more chance. Make it count, Johnson.”

His father would have not liked how fast he was driving, even while making sure to respect all signs – he wasn’t that reckless, even if the idea of bothering his old man was tempting. It wasn’t a long trip anyway, he knew the way by heart at this point. Arcadia soon got less lived around them and started to raise up, into a road leading higher and higher while surrounded by those dang trees. His passenger was looking out of the window, clearly curious but without asking a single thing. Seamus didn’t mind it. Maybe he just wanted to appreciate the moment for now, having him intrigued by the situation, before something went wrong again.

No. No. No more screwing everything, not this time. He could make this work.

The planetarium was there almost too soon, as he had only started to notice the eyes of the Cantaloupian occasionally drifting from the glass to him, equally intense. He placed the car into a completely empty parking lot, got out and breathed in. At least here there was way less vegetation, he could almost take a full breath without coughing. He quickly went over Krel’s side, opening the door for him and offering his hand.

He got a weird look in return, a little smile and a tan hand into his. Seamus really didn’t want this to be the first and last time.

“Have you ever been at Arcadia’s planetarium?”

“I am familiar, not a frequent visitor though. I was here for the Science Fair, and once in the first days since I land- got here.” He stumbled a little and focused on looking around, frowning. “I did not find anything particularly interesting though. Only incorrect.”

“Oh, if you’re up for a conversation about mistakes made into the planetary system I’m all ears, but let’s get inside first. I’m bringing you somewhere special.” He walked towards the building, aiming for the back of it, hoping that the occasional cat had decided to do its stuff somewhere else, at least for tonight. Only halfway there it hit him that their hands were still united. He was actually holding his hand. The realization made his body tremble. “Huh, I…” He looked over his shoulder, trying to think how to ask someone if it was okay to hold hands while already doing it in order not to make him go away – why was his brain always this convoluted?

Krel blinked at him, with those pretty brown eyes of his. There was such a control into those irises, smarts and brilliance but not only. It was the kind of look that had seen much, stuff he probably couldn’t even understand. There was simply something that made him want to know more about him.

He clenched his hold. Seamus could feel his heart doing backflips.

“What is it?” This mischievous genius smirked. Absolutely aware. What a day was this day.

“… nothing.” Seamus grinned back, starting to accept that from now on everything was going to be absolutely mind-blowing. “I have been here so many times, and if I know something is that the employees here are… really bad at their job.” He eyed the backdoor. Then the doormat. A freaking doormat, what a cliché. “I swear, one could break in and they would barely notice.” Reluctantly he let go of his hand, slipped it underneath the obvious hiding spot and got the key.

“That is really careless. Although having access to this place could be useful, I did see some interesting components for potential devices last time I was here.”

“Dang, you’re a dangerous one… wait, you’re an inventor?”

“In a way, I’m mostly an engineer.” Total. Heart eyes. “How did you discover this entrance?”

“I used to be a kid who barely had friends, hate with passion staying at my own house and I wished for nothing more than to climb onto a rocket and leave the planet to explore the entire galaxy.” Huh. It used to sound way less edgy when he was younger. “At some point dad discovered that he could leave me here with an adult and he was able to go by his day doing business or whatever without a problem, so I spent a lot of time around here. It gets easier to discover tricks when you’re a kid.” He unlocked the door, bowing at the other. “After you, Mr. Rebel.”

Krel rolled his eyes with a smirk, getting in.

It was as silent and dark as he expected it to be. Also empty, as he expected the nightguard had ditched his job once again – he mentally thanked his careless of tonight. He had been there enough to memorize even the vague noise of the neon, it was echoing into his ears even now that the lights were off. He took out his phone, brightening the way for them to walk. He barely had to think about it, his feet already knew where to step and what poster to pass by, even in complete darkness. His attention was mostly on the guy following him anyway… he was bringing a guy to his special place. He was bringing a guy into his stupidly nerdy corner in this stupidly nerdy place he had adored ever since he was a kid. He was actually doing it.

Wow, Mary would have screamed murder at him for being this uncool. He decided he could deal with her fits later. For now, the projector room.

It pleased him the look of Krel’s face, as it was genuinely the first time he had been there. There were so many seats, the projector was in the middle of the room. It was dark, but the glass dome above them gave a bit of a view over the night sky. Nothing else, absolute simplicity. It was so peaceful here. It made him sigh of relief every single time.

Right now though, it was enough silence to hear his own heartbeats, as the Cantaloupian’s curious eyes went all over the room. He really wanted to be up to his expectations.

“Fascinating.” He looked up to the sky view. “What is the purpose of this place?”

“You’ll see.” Seamus took off that awful jacket of his with a certain satisfaction and put it onto one of the seats. He patted the one next to him. “Give me a moment.” Krel obeyed, taking place, while the blonde went over the controls. He had seen it plenty of times, he had done it as well. Only a few controllers, along with the audio guide. “Get ready for the show!” He hurried to take place where he had left the piece of clothes, deliberately sitting on it – he never wanted to see it again, at least until winder, screw being cool or whatever.

A very familiar excitement took over when the first stars appeared, manifesting the galaxy as a whole. So many points made of light, further than his mind could ever go, yet so reachable in a way his mind couldn’t explain. Soon enough planets came into view as well, Saturn first in all of its beauty, showcasing the rings into the black space.

He took a breath, feeling the familiarity of the place… and something more.

“Space, the ever-present dome of endless wonder,” The audio guide roared through the video, toning it down a little had been a good idea. He remembered when he was a kid, and he had been so conflicted between putting his hands over his ears or risking becoming deaf only for the sake of knowing more about the universe. “And just when you think the universe can’t get any more mysterious…” He knew that explanation by heart at this point.

So he noticed the change nearby. He thought he was imagining it, because it wasn’t the first time the thought had hit him. Then his fingers met others, his heart screamed, and he decided that no dream of his had ever been this vivid.

“I like this place.” Krel was talking softly, close to his ear. It sent a shiver onto his back.

“H-happy to hear.” He let their fingers intertwine, trying to focus less on how everything could end up so horribly and more on how enjoyable everything was. He could live this moment, without thinking of the bad possible outcome. “… you know, the planets got colored like that to appeal the kids I think. The first time I watched it I’ve already studied my kiddie book about planets, and I was so disappointed that they weren’t being accurate.” He snickered, letting his eyes wander on how the celestial corpses were moving in circles. “Thinking that there is so much out there…”

“Yeah… so much.” Krel breathed out. “Galaxies so distant, Earth might never get the chance to reach. Everything is so far from everything here.” His tone had gone down a little, pensive.

The audio guide continued, Seamus was unconsciously moving his mouth along the description that was already stuck into his head. Krel had gone completely silent, even though his warm was still into his. The blonde had no idea what was going on in that impressive brain of his, but whatever it was, he didn’t want to stay away from it.

With his free hand he pointed at the projection, the fragment with all the stars.

“You know, I used to think that space was a little scary. It’s so vast and we humans will probably never live long enough to see it all.” He smiled, remember the stories about the stars his mom used to read for him. “Then I discovered how far stars are, and that from every single planet of the Milky Way the constellations all look the same. It’s like they reach all those places.”

“… what about beyond that?” Krel swallowed, clenching his hold. “What if there are even further planets out there?”

“Well, stars are many lightyears away from here, and one lightyear is 5.8 trillion miles. That’s one heck of a trip.” He got a look that said ‘I knew that’ and laughed, making him smile a little too. “All I’m saying is that, at least for a part of the galaxy, the sky will look the same. And even if we discovered even further away planets where they don’t know about Andromeda or Sagittarius, there will be other stars over there, reaching out for other places, but stars nonetheless.” The projection changed again, coming back to Earth. “As far as one can go, there are still things that feels like home, you know? That’s why, even though it’s terrifying, I kind of can’t wait to know if there’s more out there.” His throat felt lighter. Oh. He had rarely ever been able to say, was this ok-

Oh. Oh. He was wrong, Krel had never smiled before, not this evening, not even a single time. Because this was his real smile, a radiant curve with those lucid eyes, reflecting the light of the projector. He turned to him, and Seamus almost gasped out of the view alone.

Beautiful. Krel Tarron was really beautiful.

“That is a comforting thought.” His voice wasn’t far anymore, it got back some vigor. “So, this is the real you?” Seamus swallowed. Right, it all came down to that.

“I guess so… yeah, pretty much.”

“Good. I like this Seamus much better than the other one.” Okay, calm down. He was simply making a comparison with how jerky he was before. No need to get all riled up by his wording. “Although I am not completely convinced about the situation, perhaps this matter needs to be deepen on another occasion. Perhaps in another place, at another time… with the two of us.” Okay, no calming down, forget all the rationality he was so going to freak out.

It took him a moment. Then, mustering all of his courage at facing the last doubt that he was going to get slapped or laughed at as soon as he turned, he looked at the guy sitting next to him. No laugh. No slap. Not at all.

“Does… does that mean… another date? A-a proper one?” The Cantaloupian’s shrug said maybe, his extremely wide grin said yes. Seamus was too happy to care about the mocking intention. “Huh, uh, uhm.” Answer stupid, answer! “Yes. That is… sure, why not, it sounds good.” He so needed to work on his communication skills, especially since he was about to meet him so much more from now on – holy everything he just got a date out of Krel Tarron didn’t he. “I can pick you up one of these days, we can go to Sam’s or something…” Wow, a diner, such a romantic place for a date. “O-or something else, maybe I should ask Steve about idea- Oh, dang it!”

Krel’s expression fell. Oh, apparently he wasn’t the only one questioning himself.

“What is it? Is it no good?”

“Oh, no way, it’s nothing! I’m happy!” He straightened his back, glad that they were still holding hands despite everything. “It’s just that… urgh, I hate when Steve’s right about something, he gets super unbearable. Now the fact that he arranged the whole thing and it actually worked will be his biggest accomplishment, not looking forward to that.” He could already see the t-shirts ‘I got this buttsnack a date’ with his face on it. With that being said, it seemed almost an overly fair trade, weeks of mockery coming from that guy for a single date with the Cantaloupian.

Who was staring at him with an arched brow, slowly straightening his back with a wince – yeah, his own back wasn’t doing much better, these chairs were pretty uncomfortable.

“What do you mean he arranged this?” How subtle Steve was?… could Steve actually be subtle?

“Well, you know, it’s pretty evident.” Seamus scratched his cheek with his free hand, laughing a little. “He was the one knowing about my… uhm, interest in you.” Nice understatement. Those brown eyes widened. “The day I offer him a lift with my car you come along, there’s not much else to deduce here.” It was weird that someone this observant hadn’t noticed the coincidence.

Krel was smiling, again, and his cheeks were lightly red. It almost stopped his heart. Then he frowned, like another thought had taken over his more pleasant one.

“You think Steve pushed me to come today?” Seamus blinked. That was a weirdly worded question. He simply nodded. “What makes you think that?”

“Please, that guy would do anything to make me in the situation to make an absolute fool of myself! Granted, I didn’t need much of his help at this turn.” Krel was still blinking, looking baffled. “Besides, who else would’ve cared for this? I don’t think your sister knew about me, Logan is out of the picture tonight, and I’d be terrified if Mary actually managed to be involved without… what? What is it?” The guy was staring so intently, it was hard keeping track with that kind of look.

The hold clenched again. Krel was focused on nothing but him.

“I am simply a little taken back. I thought the fact that I came along only when you were there would have given away my intentions.” His inten- Oh. Oh. That syllabus must had shown onto his face because Krel laughed. He laughed and it was beautiful, even though his brain was having a grand hard time at functioning. “Steve simply said you were there to give him a ride, it was a good occasion. A plan of mine at least.” Still not functioning. “Speaking of, perhaps we should let them know we might be a little late at picking them up. I am in no hurry to leave anymore.” Still hardly understanding. “You are perhaps a little less brilliant than you think you are, Seamus Johnson.” Still non computing. Krel stared at him, right into his eyes. “But you are a nicer company than you might believe to be.” He got closer. Not functioning, not computing not-

Cheek, kiss.

Kiss cheek, cheeky kiss, kiss on the cheek with kiss-

Krel was kissing his cheek.

It was warm and soft, and it made his brain absolute short-circuit. Their noses almost brushed when he pulled away, and Krel’s hair moved a little, lightly smelling like metal. He was an inventor, he said. What else? What else was this person was? He really wanted to know, he really wanted to ask. All he could muster right now though was some sort of whimper, that made the Cantaloupian giggle some more, before getting back on his seat while still holding his hand.

The audio guide’s voice was still as powerful as ever, and at the meteor section something into his head woke up. Seamus realized that, once again, he wasn’t hallucinating. He couldn’t reach his warm cheek with his free hand without looking incredibly awkward but it was fine. It was okay, absolutely okay, and he couldn’t stop grinning because of it.

Turned out, it wasn’t Steve’s fault. It was Krel’s fault.

He was more than happy to go along with it.

[baranedizille]

could you recomend favorite dn fanfiction? i love you those who stand fanart and started to read it thnks to you, but it's so long i need warm ups lol

Ohohoh. First of all, thank you, I'm glad you started reading the monster because of my art. Khem-khem, so....

Fanfiction rec list

(it’s all lawlight, sry)

⚫ means multichaptered

⚫  Iridescence by raisuki on ao3. + a oneshot Radiance

Rating: Mature

This is my favourite-favourite one, really. I can’t express how much I love it, just read it!!! Beware: angsty and hopeless.

⚪ You are a wasp nest  by raisuki on ao3

Rating: Mature

Blind!Light, college au, kinda fluff.

⚪ Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies by  Hedonistic Opportunist on fanfiction net

Rating: Mature

It’s angst and hurts but really worth to read.

⚪ Sugar and pumpkin spice by deleted acc on ao3

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Very fluff very nice very ahhh, coffee shop au with Light as barrista and L as his annoying client.

⚪ Shame is pride's cloak  by youremyqueen on ao3

Rating: Explicit

Submissive L and Light who took Watari’s (who’s dead oops) role to look after L. And well, he’s pretty good at it, you kno.

⚪ By night we go naked, by day we go blind by youremyqueen on ao3

Rating: Explicit

Just a really good smut (as any smut by the author).  Written for a kink meme, prompt was: sensory deprivation.

⚪ See me by  Shadow_of_Quill  on ao3

Rating: Explicit

Innocent!Light and open ending (quite happy!).

⚫ Seeking his hand (unfinished) by  magic__mind  on ao3

Rating: Explicit (actually there’s really little of explicit content, because yeah, it’s unfinished)

“A historical regency-esque romance AU in which L seeks Light's hand in marriage”. It’s pretty ooc as you may suppose, but ah, anyway, this one is really good!

⚪ Sola Fide by Serria on ao3

Rating: Mature

The first fic I read in dn fandom and let me say, it raised the bar of quality very high.  Misora gives L the lead he needs so he captures Light and tortues him to find the truth. Open end.

⚫ The Lies of Light Yagami by  kildeer on ao3

Rating: Explicit

Additional pairings: Light/Mikami, Light/Takada

Light wants to make L love him so he can destroy him by that, I’m not going to say more, just read it. Really good and angst.

⚫ The Life and Time of Genius Detective L Lawliet & Repentant Murderer Light Yagami by Devilinthebox on ao3 + a collection of drabbles Photographs

Rating: Mature

A tag: It's a fic about a fictional biography about two fictional douchebags, - so that’s it. Light is without his memories of being Kira and given the second chance by L. Also they’re in love and travelling. Really worth to read + sad ending hemh

⚫ Our Bodies, Possessed by Light by Devilinthebox on ao3

Rating: Mature

Additional pairings: B/Misora, one-sided Mello/L

“L. Lawliet is a gifted photographer who believes he has understood the light and its secrets. Light Yagami is a young, unstable and slightly crooked model. Together, they kill time”. Really good and, wow, happy ending!!

⚪ A Kiss For Christmas by Rachello344 on ao3

Rating: General Audiences

Very nice one, college!au. L, Light’s roommate is invited to spend Xmass hollidays at Yagamis.

⚪ Buried Alive by avoidfilledwithcelluloid on ao3

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

“ post-apocalypse AU where L is subtly implied to be a doomsday prepper, Light does small gardening+cooking, and they watch a VHS of Murder She Wrote”. It was a real gift to me to find it, post-apoc au and Lawlight isolated together ohmygod.

⚪ Tell me I’m good  by avoidfilledwithcelluloid on ao3

Rating: Explicit

“L recieves a drunk call from light who is hiding in the bathroom at a party”. Reeeeeally atmospheric, just read it, I’m not going to explain, it’s not just another smut.

⚫ Hand in unlovable hand by avoidfilledwithcelluloid on ao3

Rating: Explicit

Trans!Light, a collection of drabbles nsfw and not. I love James’ writing what else to say.

⚪ In your shoes by avoidfilledwithcelluloid on ao3  

Rating: Explicit

Warning!professor/student. “After L sees his student/paramour Light step in mud, he rushes to give him the shoes off his own feet“. Really nice one.

⚪ Special credits by Serahne on ao3

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Professor and student but without any warning. More humorous than shippy, Light is an overconfident student and L is an asshole professor.

⚪ Love is War by Zara_Zara on ao3

Rating: General Audiences

School au and oh so sweet. “This is secretly a 4 + 1 fic in which Light and L almost confess plus the one time they did”.

⚪ Is that my shirt? by Zara_Zara on ao3

Rating: General Audiences

As you can gues hehe, they steal each other’s clothes, oh dorks.

⚪ A Tithe to Hell by Aja on ao3 (one chapter but long so it’s actually ⚫)

Rating: Explicit

Kind of classic and for a reason. The middle of it is kinda crazy but ok hahah, I just warned you. “Light has thirteen days to find out how it will feel--not just to kill, but to destroy”.

⚫ Nights  by youremyqueen on ao3

Rating: Explicit

Additional pairings: L/Aiber, L/B, Light/Misa

Another classic. I’m going to be honest, I read it really briefly hhahah. I can say though, it’s reaaaally well written and lawlight is very good in it. Totally would recommend it to L stans.

⚪ (x) ao3 profile is inkfeathers

Rating: General Audiences

I’m a sucker for hogwarts au and this one is soooo good, Light and L are students.

⚪ Groundstroke by VerdePradera on ao3

Rating: Mature

L and Light are professional tennis players, and Light isn’t going to come out of closet and L is upset and I love the fic really much.

Addition how could I forget it wtf

⚫ Coexistence is boredom (unfinished) by Sakurazukamori6 on fanfiction net

Rating: Mature

Golden classic. “This story takes place after Raito gets his memories back, but for the mere sake of fun, L leaves the handcuffs on for a big longer". Just fucking good, ok?

[aevyk-ing]

Thoughts on Rise of the Titans

SPOILERS ahead

First, I have to say the movie didn’t go the expected way, at all. Instead of moving forward... it quite did the opposite. That’s not my cup of tea, and let’s take the Futurama finale as example: while I think it’s beautiful and well thought, the idea of them living their lifes again and againg makes me a tad uneasy. But let’s stop talking about finales and start with the beginning: 

-Blinky is doing the narration. So he lives. :)

-While I quite enjoy the recap (and hearing Jim joining it), I feel it wasn’t needed.

-But the music...

-Bellroc always seemed the stronger one for me.

-Oh, so no filling the gaps, huh?

-Whoa, Claire has gotten so good at magic.

-I’ve spent the whole fight gasping every time Jim gets hurt.

-The “no-magic-cannon-force” is quite a good idea.

-Wait, they’re calling them “wizards” now?

-Nari in Douxie’s body is both hilarious and weird.

-Poor Toby, he’s desperate to make people know he’s cool.

-“At least you’re normal, kitty.”

-That confidence, Krel.

-Not the ribs. That’s not good.

-Yes! Are we going to see a wedding?

-At least Merlin left the plans in his chamber. That’s... a good thing for how many wrong?

-Yeah, we already know magic and Akiridion tech mixes well.

-And Krel’s still wearing the suit...

-Oh, no, they’re married? Wait, what? Wait, no. No, no, no, don’t go that way.

-Just like the Sims. At least we may see some cute alien babies.

-Eli has Neville-Longbottomed hard.

-Just Nari’s presence working sounds bad. But I guess it was the only way to do it.

-Hey, it was Brazil and Asia!

-I can’t help it, but the waterfall in front of the Earth Titan... at least they’re watering along the way...

-No, don’t split. I hate that kind of quests because you normally focus on one. I mean, this time is different because each one has a fav character, but I was sure I was going to be more invested in Claire and Blinky’s one. And I did.

Let’s talk about the quests separatedly:

1. Earth: After a while thinking how hard is for Nomura to avoid the sun, she gets killed just like that. Douxie trying to get up was funny, but once he woke Nari up, I knew they were going to go Titan v.s. Titan.

2. Ice: They get TV up there? Anyway, I was weirdly excited to see Jim, Barbara and Strickler with winter clothes. Aja was... weirdly annoying. I mean, I don’t like her when she’s in “I’m a warrior princess” mode, but she was trying to do her own thing and not listening to others. And Strickler... no, seriously, no. And right after they got ridden of Nomura. But hey, it was interesting to see the cannons and I loved that Toby was there. Poor Toby feels like he has to do an extra effort to be at par his friends and that’s not okay. At least we get the answer: Jim’s father doesn’t deserve an explanation.

3. Fire: The new Trollmarket it’s cool, but I feel like it could have been... just a little more. It was so funny when Archie convinces his father to go because “he likes how much Blinky screams” and the flight scene was top-notch, but hey, it’s DreamWorks. The Kronisphere... I’ve seen too much stuff like that, but anyway. When I saw it in the trailer I thought it was a piece of the Heart of Avalon and that’s because of the color. The fight was alright but Jim burning his hand for opening the gate... Archie staying behind... the robot/Titan fight... everything was in another level. Such a shame it was for nothing.

-Lots of things were for nothing.

-I would have loved to see Jim struggling with getting back to being normal, but we got Toby (and Jim at some part) struggling with not feeling “special” enough.

-Have to say I love the new encantation: “For the good of all...” and that’s what the movie forced its way to.

-Seeing Coach Lawrence and all the students again was nice, but I would’ve love to see Darci and Mary talking about all that has happened.

-Just how big is Arcadia? They have a natural park too?

-Wait, the Arcane Order can die? They can die.

-Poor Douxie. Even though we don’t know how much time has passed until Nari was found, I bet he was quite attached to her.

-I feel like Eli was brought back for just a “gasp” moment. He didn’t do anything at all!

-Steve’s pregnancy is just... disturbing.

-I don’t get it, why does everybody have to show their support for Jim so he can wield Excalibur?

-As much as I love the “become” speech, having all the characters (many of them who shouldn’t have heard it) say it didn’t feel right.

-Hey, at least Stuart gets to do something.

-You get yeeted, you get yeeted, you get yeeted...

-Why-did-you-take-off-your-armor-Toby?

-See? Poor thing has self-esteem issues.

-The new armor is still weird.

-No, Toby, no... and... crushed...inside...a car.

-Time-turning is the new “It was all a dream”.

-Wait, I thought he was going back to... doesn’t matter.

-Jim just wanted a normal life after all.

-I have so many questions: How does Merlin know Toby is worthy too? Blinky is going to train him (I bet so)? What’s going to be Jim’s weapon? Is Toby going to the Darklands to save Enrique? Will Claire still be a sorceress? If that doesn’t work, they will go back in time again and then Claire is going to be the Trollhunter? 

-I would’ve loved to see the new storyline in the credits. And a Douxie song.

-Wait, no Zoe?

[shhhlikeme]

“Losty Aone” / “Losty Mountain Man🏔” Series:

Outtake Collection #3 (NSFW)

————————————

A/N: sticking to these right now because I’m obsessed! This one was long so the other 3 in the collection will be in collection 4.

‼️THIS IS THE 7TH PART IN A SERIES READ THE OTHER PARTS BEFORE THIS ONE: ‼️

TABLE OF CONTENTS

————————————

Aone 8 1/2 Months Into Crushing On You And Having His First Ever Wet Dream💦😴

Kenji Futakuchi woke up with a startle. He actually fell out of his bed due to the loudness of his phone ringing that was charging on the other side of his room.

Groaning in pain on the floor, Kenji swiped his iPhone to answer. He didn’t even need to look at the caller ID to know who was calling him. Kenji spoke first when he picked up:

“I love you man. You’re my best friend. But care to explain why the fuck you are calling me 5 times at 4 o’clock in the morning?!”

On the other end of the line, Aone Takanobu sat up in his camouflage coloured bed, clutching his iPhone to his ear for dear life.

“Good, you answered.” He said simply.

“Fuck you, I fell off my bed. What is it? Someone better either 1) be dying or 2) wants to marry me—and her name better be Aja Naomi King.”

Aone deadpanned. “Neither.”

Rolling his eyes, Kenji yawned. “Tell me what’s wrong, Takanobu-san.”

“Um..... I‘m unsure of how to phrase it.”

“Well, get sure. I’m going to fall back asleep.”

“Please don’t fall back asleep. I need your help.”

“I’m listening to you, you freakishly tall polar bear!!”

“You’re rather grumpy at 4:04am...........”

“Aone! I’m hanging up—“

“No! I apologize. I need....er.....your help. Or your advice. I....uh.....had an......interesting.......dream. A dream like none I’ve ever had before.”

Kenji couldn’t believe his best friend was calling him at 4:00am on a school night to tell him about a crappy dream. “Okaaaaaay.......?” He prodded rudely, trying to get the white haired athlete to elaborate.

“It was about Y/N.”

So?

“Okay and.......?”

“And now I feel very on edge.”

“Okay and.......?”

Aone sighed, knowing that he’d have to spell it out for his sleepy friend. “Y/N was.....um.....naked........in my dream.”

Kenji’s eyes widened. Although he knew his middle blocker friend liked girls and girls liked him—in all Futakuchi’s years being friends with Aone he’d never seen or heard of Aone being so physically attracted to a girl to the point where he’d dream about her naked. He was really respectful and rarely even checked out women. That’s why girls loved him at Date Tech but the Mountain Man never paid attention to them because he ‘had’ you. Well, Kenji should have really seen something like this coming considering how much Aone liked Y/N, but it was still surprising because this was a first.

“Yeah? Was she naked and alone in your dream?”

“Uh....no.....I was there as well....”

Kenji smiled. “And were you two....shall I say....having a good time?”

“.....Yes.”

“Tell me about it.”

Aone’s eyes widened as he immediately went red. “N-no, Kenji-san.”

Kenji yawned nonchalantly, putting his hand behind his head comfortably on the ground. “Why not? Wet dreams are normal for guys our age, Aone. There’s nothing to be ashamed of. You’ve really never had one before?”

“Never. Not once. And it’s referred to as a wet dream? Why in the world do they call it that?”

“Aren’t your pants wet....?”

Aone glanced down quickly, immediately jumping and flushing in slight horror when he saw a large wet circle in the middle of his boxers crotch. He scrambled out of his bed in shock.

“Um....I am going to call you back.” Aone mumbled.

7 minutes later after Aone had successfully cleaned himself up and changed into clean pyjamas, Kenji picked up his call again.

Kenji now has a bowl of ramen with him in his room and he was sitting up on its bed.

“Tell me about the dream, big guy.” He says with his mouth full.

Aone blushes slightly before starting:

💤 💤 💤

Aone was in class.

He looked to his right where you were giggling and passing notes with your friends, ignoring the teacher like always. Aone thought you looked really pretty today in your uniform, though for some reason your skirt seemed shorter than usual. He really liked it like that.

Takanobu watched you pass notes enjoyably, when suddenly a random student’s hand next to him was holding out a note to him.

Aone took the note, confused, and looked down at it.

He flipped the paper and before unfolding it, he read:

To Aone

From Y/N

Aone felt his heart speed up as he looked up in your direction and noticed that you were staring back at him from across the classroom. You smiled at him and blew him a kiss.

He froze, genuinely afraid he was going to internally combust.

🚨 You were noticing him! You were looking at him! You sent him a note! You blew him a kiss and you seemed actually happy to be giving him attention! 🚨

Forgetting that he even had a note in his hand because the girl he liked was giving him googly eyes, Y/N pointed cutely at the note in his hand to remind him.

You cupped your mouth with your hand so that the teacher couldn’t see what you were saying and looked at Aone. “Open it!” You mouthed with a gorgeous smile to boot.

Blushing profusely because he was embarrassing himself by forgetting the note just because you merely looked at him, Aone nodded stoically and looked back down at the piece of paper.

After taking a deep breath and silently praying that this wasn’t a letter telling him to quit staring at her because she’s not interested and he’s creepy, he unfolds the small note.

Inside, it read in beautiful calligraphy (which is very dream like bc your handwriting was nothing of the sort):

Dear Aone,

You’re always staring at me so I just thought I would ask you...... can I suck your dick? *smiley face kissy face*

- Y/N

***

Looking back up again, Aone was somehow still in the classroom, only there was no one there anymore except for him and Y/N. The walls were painted white now as if they were in a cloud’s waiting room.

Even his desk was gone and he was just sitting in the chair he’d been in.

In the place that your desk should be, you now stood there watching Aone with dark eyes. You were toying with your shorter skirt and Aone automatically couldn’t breathe.

You skipped toward him and stood in front of him, smiling that beautiful smile.

Aone thought you looked breathtaking so close to him. Without warning, you dropped down to your knees in the empty classroom and began making work of removing Aone’s school pants.

Aone gulped as he looked down at you.

“Y/N. C-can I ple-please take you out on a d-date fi-first, perhaps? If that wou-would be okay with you?? I would like to sh-sh-show you how much I like y-you—“

His pleas were interrupted when you swallowed his cock whole.

Dream-Aone moaned louder than he ever has before and tilted his head back. He was trying to tell you that you didn’t have to do this and that your pleasure was infinitely more important than his, but he was still a boy and the horniness he felt seeing the—dare I say—like of his life with your mouth wrapped around his shaft made him unable to think.

You hollowed you cheeks around his dick and sucked him hard, using both your hands to twist and pump the remaining centimetres of his large dick that couldn’t fit in your wet mouth. You were slurping and it made Aone feel so good. He never felt anything better and he’s never seen a more erotic sight than his dick being swallowed into the wanton mouth of his crush.

Wet-dream-Y/N flicked her heated eyes up to Aone’s, who groaned when he saw your beautiful eyes staring into his, egging on his orgasm without even trying.

“Fuck,”

Aone moaned as he removed the ponytail from your hair and placed his large hand at the back of your head. He didn’t even need to guide you because you were amazing at it. Your mouth was small and wet and the horny side of Aone’s brain couldn’t wait to send his load shooting down your throat.

Aone excitedly thought about giving you head after this in order to show you how much he treasured you.....and the thought alone almost made him cum.

Feeling like he never wanted your soft lips off of his dick again but also feeling conflicted because he wanted to date you and show you how much he could spoil you with anything you ever wanted before any of this—Aone felt the need to try and stop you again.

“Y/N—-I don’t want you to think I’m li-li-like those other guys. I have genuine feelings for-for you. Re-really strong f-feelings. I want to be your boyfriend and make you the happiest g-g-gir-girl ever.” He was panting as he spoke.

In response, you popped his dick out of your mouth and smiled up at him sweetly. “Aone. I’m already your wife. You didn’t forget, did you?”

You lifted your hand to showcase your huge engagement ring that should really weigh your small hand down but somehow didn’t.

dreams are a funny place

Aone gasped in surprise seeing it, though more than anything his heart swelled with love and overwhelming happiness!

“Y-you married m-me?!” He couldn’t help but smile.

You started pumping his cock again with your hand while looking up at him. Aone’s head fell back again in pleasure. “Yep!” You cheered. “Don’t you remember our honeymoon?”

***

Suddenly the setting changed fast again. You two were in the backyard of a beautiful private mansion at night. It was the mansion Aone had rented for your honeymoon so that Y/N could be as loud as she wanted without any hotel complaints from neighbours:

This proved to be worth every penny because Aone Takanobu currently had your thighs wrapped around his head as he penetrated your sensitive vagina with his powerful tongue after your second orgasm. Aone was standing up tall to his full height, and he had a naked-you propped up on his shoulders so that your heat was level with his eager mouth. You were so high on the Mountain because you were sitting on Aone’s shoulders frontwards🏔, straddling his face. You were pulling onto Aone’s healthy white hair as he darted his tongue in and out of your entrance and then sucked on your clit with vigor.

“AONE! OH MY GOD, AONE! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?!” You moaned. “YES! UH! YES! TAKANOBU ALL I NEED IS YOU FOREVER! I WAS SADLY MISTAKEN TO LOOK YOU OVER FOR THAT TRASHY BASEBALL PLAYER WHEN YOU WERE THERE ALL ALONG WAITING TO GIVE ME EVERYTHING I COULD EVER DESIRE! YOUR TONGUE FEELS SO GOOD, AONE!”

A/N: girl bye if you think your moans are too extra - it’s Aone’s dream, remember?

You were screaming in ecstasy and Dream-Aone was so fucking turned on by your erotic sounds and screams that he couldn’t take it.

Mountain man moaned into your heat. He began flicking your puffy bud with the tip of his tongue like rapid fire while he moaned along with you so you could feel the vibrations on your clit.

You gripped his hair tighter and screamed.

“AONE YOU ARE THE BEST HUSBAND EVER! I AM SO GLAD I AGREED TO MARRY YOU! NO ONE CAN LOVE ME OR FUCK ME THE WAY YOU DO! AHH YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE I WANT! I’M SO SORRY I DIDNT NOTICE YOU BEFORE! AHHH, AONE-“

When you screamed his name for the sixth time, a long groan escaped from Takanobu’s lips as he thrust into the air and ejaculated in his swim trunks.

His feelings were way too strong for you (HIS DREAM-WIFE) not to cum to hearing you continuously scream and moan his name for the first time.

He only stopped giving you head for a second in order to finish orgasming before you were wiggling your hips trying to get him to keep going. Loving that you loved what he was doing to you, Aone dove his tongue deep into your folds and right back into your deliciousness.....

before he woke up in his bed panting.

💤💤💤

“Jesus Christ,” Futakuchi himself couldn’t help but feel slightly aroused by Aone’s very detailed explanation of his wet dream. “That was your first wet dream ever?!”

Aone nodded earnestly even though he couldn’t be seen over the phone. “Indeed.”

“Sheesh. My first was years ago but it was just about making out with my celebrity crush, but yours.............well, I guess you’re the most passionate guy I know—your world stops when Y/N walks into the cafeteria—so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised.”

“What does it mean?” Aone asked. “Is there something wrong with my feelings for Y/N? Am I one of those guys that she hates?! That only want her for her body??”

Kenji heard the panic rise in his friends voice so he rushed to reassure him:

“No, dude. Not at all this DOES NOT makes you like those other guys! You’ve crushed on Y/N for MONTHS and you see her parade around in her hot cheerleading uniform all the time and you’ve NEVER looked at her the same way all those pervy guys do. It shows how much of a good guy you are and how you like her for her. You just suppressed your sexual side deep down because youre so crazy about her that I think it comes out tenfold in your dreams. You’re attracted to her so it’s bound to show somewhere, right? I know you’re hopelessly romantic when it comes to Y/N. You tell me about your dreams about surprising Y/N with flowers, or kissing her forehead and all that PG shit but your hormones have to say hello at some point, right? It’s human nature. No matter what—It’s just a dream, though, so you and Y/N didn’t actually have mind blowing oral sex. Meaning you have nothing to worry about. Tomorrow at school everything will go back to normal and you’ll just be whipped for the girl like you always are and everything will be the same. You’re fine.”

There was a long silence on the other end of the line.

“Uh....Aone? You fall asleep over there?”

“....No.”

“Then why so silent?”

“I......I....” The Date Tech volleyball player sighed. “I.........just don’t want things to go back to normal, as you put it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that I wanted my dream to be real.”

“Oh, the sex part? Well of course you do, seeing Y/N naked would be—“

“Not the sex part.” Aone interrupted. “I could go without sex forever if Y/N didn’t want it. I’d do anything for her.”

Kenji couldn’t believe that he couldn’t trace an ounce of insincerity in his middle blockers voice. He was serious that he’d give up sex if it meant being with Y/N. “Then what part to do you wish was real, Aone?” Asked Kenji.

Aone turned red again as a blush overtook him. Kenji could basically sense the blush from his house.

“The marriage part.” Aone admitted, feeling slightly pathetic. “In my erotic dream, Y/N had agreed to marry me.” Takanobu’s heart ached as it often did when he thought of you.

“So I was saying that I wish, in the very least, that that part was real.”

————————————

Outtake #4: CLICK HERE

[musicalskater59]

Daylight December: Spells

Okay, so I didn’t do the last two days because I can’ write in Krel’s or Aja’s perspective for the live of me, but I was able to both a.) come up with an idea for today’s prompt as well as b.) write in a character’s perspective that I’m not usually writing in! I’m actually quite proud of it. It’s not my best, but it’s improvements to my Douxie POV writing lol.

Hope you enjoy!

I was rather young when I learned that having a countless number of spells meant nothing to become a good wizard.

I watched as powerful magic wielders fell over the centuries. Each knowing more spells than I had years of living, but every single one of them falling due to their own hubris in one way or another. May their end stem from how they thought they were much more powerful than the being before them or that fact that humanity's fear for the unknown devoured them, it didn't matter. All fell one way another even though they had an Encyclopedia filled with spells up their sleeves. Because it wasn't spells that would make you a good wizard.

It was your character.

The heart that you carried and the morals you followed was what made you a good, well, anything really. Human, troll, wizard, it doesn't matter.

But that didn't mean that as a new master wizard that I wasn't excited to teach my student as much as I could.

"Now, keep your hands steady, alright?" I watched as my apprentice tried her best to follow my instructions. "Clear your mind. Don't think of anything for a moment." Claire closed her eyes as I placed my hands onto her shoulders. "Now, think of something you want to protect. When the first thing appears in your mind, hold onto it. Make that your anchor as you did back in Camelot." She nodded her head as she seemed to capture the emotion with ease. "Now, take that feeling and project it into the shadows before you. Create from that a being that will help you complete this desire." I stepped back from her as a black swirl started to form before her hands. The shadows before her moving and molding to her whim as I smiled at her capability.

Claire is bound to be a powerful witch. One of quick wit and skilled prowess. But most of all, a perfect showcasing of what it meant to be a good wizard.

The young girl carries her heart upon her sleeve. Her emotions being the true reasoning that her power blossomed in the first place. Her love for all those around her is what leads to her success with almost everything I have thrown at her. May it be of Jim, her friends, her family, it didn't matter. Her desire to protect those she loves as well as the world she loves is what will lead her down a path of glory.

My smile grew wider as I watched the mass of shadows start to pulse a light purple. Her magic truly putting life into whatever she was manifesting.

Even if she had a limited array of spells up her sleeve within this very moment.

I squeeze her shoulders lightly as I encouraged her with my smile now going from ear to ear.

"Perfect! Just a little more, love! You got this!" Suddenly the shadows started to take shape into a humanoid figure. Slowly but surely, the shadows mended together to create a tall knight in armor. A shield and spear made fo pure shadows within its hands before it knelt down before Claire and bowed its head toward his creator. "You did it!" I watched as she opened her eyes slowly to look over her creation. Her hands dropping to her sides before she started looking between the shadow made knight and me in disbelief.

"I actually-." The fellow punk gave me a wide smile as she rushed to wrap me up in a tight hug. "I DID IT!" She pulled back as her smile still danced on her face. "Couldn't have done it without you, teach!" I couldn't help but smile with pride toward my friend as she turned her attention back toward her creation.

Yes, one can argue that spells are what makes a wizard powerful and I may agree to a certain degree.

I watched as Claire reached out and placed a gentle hand onto the top of the shadow knight's helmet. A small pulse of purple glowing from her touch proving that it was her that created them.

But I would bet the next nine-hundred years of my life on the fact that it is our emotions as spell casters that make us dangerous. Along with not just the connections we bear with not just our creations and spells, but from those that lend us the strength to cast them is what makes not just a good wizard.

My friend turned her head toward me to shine another smile toward me as my thoughts concluded within my head.

But a great one.

[stellarcat52]

Timeless blue chapter 5

My mind stops functioning halfway though the last few paragraphs. So lady of the lake episode, there were many ways this could have played out that would have been much better probably. (Douxie getting Excalibur alongside them, one of my plans had him learn magic alongside Claire and succeed. Another had him encounter Nari, won’t explain more) so if you don’t enjoy the way this episode went and you want to read one of the other possible scenarios I might write them. Still, hope you enjoy.

Hisirdoux had gotten Krel before getting the others, Krel was feeling somewhat better after what Hisirdoux believed was a night of rest. The prince had honestly been awake all night, something had been bugging him. He had been adding notes to the alchemy book until sunrise, trying not to focus on the strange feeling in his chest.

The group saw no difference in him, fatigue didn’t show, he didn’t bring it up, in fact he didn’t really talk to anyone but Hisirdoux. Douxie found this quite confusing while overhearing their whispers because Krel insisted on referring to both of them as Douxie.

Krel had to be asked personally to join them. Douxie almost asked Archie to steal the alchemy book that Krel was trying to use as an excuse to stay behind.

“Listen,” Krel stooped his grumbling, following behind Douxie on their way through the castle. “I... remember bits of what happened last night, with my past self and you. You’re not alone, and-“ Douxie fades off as Steve’s ramblings of monster trophies gets clearer.

The way there, and after setting up a campfire and such, Krel was mostly reading and marking down things still. Not even Merlin would be able to pry his focus away from it at this point.

“Do you really think Merlin’s plan will work?” Claire and Douxie were talking, on the opposite side of the small ship.

Douxie fumbled a bit with the time map. “We’ve run out of options, and my choices haven’t exactly been working recently.” Krel tensed nearby. “We cannot make any more mistakes. We’ll just have to trust Merlin this time.”

Claire sighs, “I just hope Jim made it out okay.”

Douxie responds with something that makes Steve laugh as they get closer to the cave entrance, and Krel was ready to hit himself. Douxie had apologized, Hisirdoux had helped him, and he was still blaming Douxie for bringing them to the past. Not because Douxie fought with him, not because Hisirdoux had originally bothered him, but because he was stuck in an unfamiliar place and time, and he blamed Douxie despite it not being the apprentice’s fault.

They had entered, while Merlin was speaking to Claire about shadow magic, Krel and Archie had very similar reactions to hearing what Steve’s swimsuit was.

“Blegh. Why does Aja like you?” Keel muttered, the first words he had spoken out loud during the trip itself.

Steve puffed or his chest. “I’m her blond oaf in shining armor. What’s not to like?”

“I could name a few.” Claire adds, rolling her eyes, but smiling.

“We’ve arrived.” Merlin announced.

Claire gasped in wonder. “The lady of the lake is real? I thought she was just a myth!”

“Oh, no. The lady of te lake is very much real.” Douxie pauses. “Though, only Merlin’s allowed to meet with her. Well... ‘Till now.”

“Because her power is beyond your comprehension.” Archie jumped up and flew around the cave. “It is from her waters I originally helped Arthur retrieve Excalibur.”

The group steps up to see a set of faced doors. Krel hangs back a little as Merlin takes the sword, and announces that he is to go inside alone. Krel zones out, some pressure fills the air. Similar to tension, but more physical.

“I won’t just sit here without making things right!” Douxie knocks Krel out of his daze as Merlin opens the doors.

A blue hand lightly grabs the wizard’s shoulder. “Douxie.” Their eyes meet without anger or uncomfortable tension for the first time in a while. “Maybe this isn’t your place to fix things. Merlin knows what he’s doing, I’m sure it will be fine.”

Douxie pauses, and turns back to the doors well after they’ve closed. “Merlin’s magic is uncrackable, we won’t be able to get in now.” His tone isn’t accusing, not blaming Krel for holding him back, but just informing the others.

“Well,” Archie flies over and perched on Douxie’s other shoulder as Krel’s hand drops. “At least we won’t have to see Steve’s birthday suit.”

Douxie smiles and pets his familiar before the words “Too late” leave Steve’s lips. Archie extends a wing in front of Douxie’s eyes and covers his own. Krel decides not to turn around for a while, so he’s left facing Douxie, who eventually does look out from under Archie’s wing.

“Does this mean you don’t hate me?” Douxie still wasn’t looking up, probably due to the fact they didn’t know Steve was no longer in his birthday suit, but also because he didn’t want to meet Krel’s eyes again.

“I-“ Krel inhales. “I should be the one to apologize. I was mad at you for something that you didn’t cause.”

“Oh.” Douxie glances up, but obviously doesn’t like what he sees behind Krel, which is Claire covering her eyes and quietly threatening Steve for good reason. “So.. we’re good now?” He extends a hand, which is met with a handshake.

“Yes.”

They stand in silence for another few seconds before moving. Claire was now glaring at Steve, but his visual was no longer mentally scarring.

They set up a camp, starting a fire with help from Archie and wondering how long it would take for Merlin to get Excalibur fixed.

Krel found it amusing that Steve was attempting to talk the doors open. Merlin had used magic, the only one there with a chance of opening the doors was Douxie. The doors commentary ruined the entertainment by causing Steve to open up about his stress.

“Well he needs a therapist.” Krel commented.

Douxie and Claire start talking about shadow magic, it’s danger, and how they could use it to get inside. Krel was reading over his notes, and using the blank pages to theorize about that strange presence or pressure.

He clicks back into the conversations as Douxie convinces Claire to try, not hiding the laughter the comment on not being a good student brought.

He watched Douxie walk Claire through the steps, the portal appearing, Claire disappearing, and through it all that strange pressure grew.

They got their way in, after Claire, Steve and Archie had entered, Douxie looked back at Krel to bring him too. “Krel? C’mon, you alright?” Of course, te akiridion had no physically symptoms of that massive pressure causing his core itself to feel as if it was a black hole.

“A headache,” he lied, “maybe I should stay out here and guard the entrance.”

“Alright.” Douxie turns back to the portal, closing. “Be safe. And don’t run off without us!”

“I can’t even drive you goober! Go save the past.” Krel faked a smile as Douxie disappeared.

The pressure lifted the moment the portal closed, sucked into the void alongside his friends. The sand met him as gravity seemed to take its toll, the fire crackled quietly as he stares at the cave ceiling, relieved of the strange presence. His core no longer felt in danger, but that meant the others might be.

——

The others were dealing with the “lady” of the lake fairly well. Douxie had retrieved Excalibur, freed the “Lady”, and headed out, to find a very frustrated Krel.

“So much for the headache, your highness.” Douxie grinned as he matched pace with the akiridion. “Though you wouldn’t have wanted to join us anyway. The lady of the lake is this huge tentacle sea monster.”

Keel chuckled, “I would not call that a lady on this planet. Maybe on one I have not visited, but not here.”

“Yeah, how many planets have you visited?” They stood next to each other, talking while in their own little world. Throughout the trip ignoring Claire, practicing making portals, and Steve’s wonderstruck protectiveness over his “monster trophy”.

Archie took perch on the edge of the boat instead of Douxie’s shoulder, he liked seeing his wizard happy, and did not want Krel showing interest in dragons just yet.

Part four Edit!!

[p-artsypants]

Arcadia or Bust (15) Area 49-B

(Ao3) (FF.net)

Well...it’s been a minute (over a year). How y’all doin? 

So, I finally got down to watching Wizards and it was just as amazing as I thought it would be! And I got to see my boy!!! My Jim!! And Claire!! Ahhh!!!

For the purpose of this fanfic, I won’t be changing the background I gave Morgana. In this story, the events of Wizards never happened. Nor the events of the end of 3 Below. I already wrote the start of the new school year, jumping passed the timeline of both of those seasons. Though, I might be cherry picking information from both (like Douxie and how much Toby and Eli know about Krel and Aja.)

I hope that makes sense, and thank you! 

I’m dedicating this chapter to @nattikay, because she said she wanted some positive Troll Jim content, and I wanted to get this to you sooner for it!

--

Previously on Arcadia or Bust:

Jim, Claire, Blinky, and Merlin came back to Arcadia, only to find that James Lake Sr. had turned up. Merlin gained favor with the party by turning the man into a pig temporarily. Jim went back to school in a glamour mask, only to be exposed as a troll by Steve, who punched him in the face. Now that everyone knows what he looks like and who he is, Jim continues school as a Troll. He’s been recruited for the football team too. 

Everything would have been great...except James Lake Sr. left a bag of cocaine on top of a trash can, as a drop zone, only for Jim to find it and go on a drug fueled rage across town. Now unconscious, Jim must face the consequences... 

—

When Jim awoke, he was bouncing slightly in the back of a van. Not an ambulance, a van. He groaned to wakefulness. 

“Oh, you’re finally awake.” Spoke a voice. 

Peeling his dry eyes open, he looked around the plain, armored vehicle to find himself surrounded by men in uniform with thick helmets and guns. 

He wanted to ask what was going on, only he was muzzled, and strapped to some kind of plank. If he tried really hard, he could probably break free, but he was still exhausted. 

And he wasn’t sure how trolls fared against gunshots. 

“You’re being escorted to a secure facility where you can’t hurt anyone ever again, you disgusting beast.” 

Oh, that wasn’t good. He’d hurt someone? 

So that dream was real? 

Where was he? Where was mom? Claire? Toby? Did they know where he was? 

“...mmm...” 

“I’ll unlock your muzzle for one minute. Make it quick.” 

A switch clicked and Jim felt his jaw relax ever so slightly. Just enough to talk. 

“Does my mom know where I am? What happened?” 

“Do you think we care about some mother of a beast?” 

Jim swallowed, feeling heat rising to his cheeks from anger and embarrassment. “Dr. Barbara Lake. At the Arcadia Oaks hospital. Please...she’ll worry about me.” 

Someone else spoke. “She was there when we took you. You were unconscious. She knows.” 

Well. She knew. She’d tell Claire, and Toby, and Blinky...but now what? Behave? 

Was he under arrest then? Was he going to have a trial? 

What the hell happened??

—

24 hours previously. 

They did everything they could. Now it was just up to Jim to pull through. His heart rate was down, and his stomach had been pumped of the excess cocaine he hadn’t already thrown up. 

Barbara was on the clock, so she couldn’t just sit and wait. Though, that might have been a blessing. It was agony just waiting. Watching his chest rise and fall with great effort. 

It was supposed to be a tense, quiet waiting game. 

But that all changed with the soldiers that stormed in in full riot gear. 

“Hands in the air!” 

Several men entered the room, and immediately secured Claire, Toby, and Strickler. 

“What’s going on?!” Demanded Claire. 

An African American woman, only in uniform and not full gear, strolled into the room, head held high. 

She stopped right at the end of Jim’s bed, raking her eyes over his prone form. “So this is the menace. I didn’t think they hospitalized beasts.” 

Barbara stormed into the room. “What are you doing?! Who are you?! Get away from my son!” 

The woman just turned and held her gaze. “Colonel Kublitz. I’ll be taking your patient into my custody.” 

“No!” Barbara argued, shouldering passed her. “We’ve been talking to the police! This is all a big misunderstanding! Jim was poisoned! And he can’t be moved! He’s unstable!”

The woman was not dissuaded. “Amazing that you’d be so protective of something that tore up your town, terrorized your neighbors, virtually held your city hostage. Why would you try to save that?” 

Barbara snarled at her. “He’s my son!” 

“I suppose he gets the blue skin and horns from his father? I know a troll when I see one. Last time, I missed them all. I’m not missing this one. He’s coming with me.” 

“And I’m telling you, I will not discharge him!” 

“I don’t need you to.” She snapped her fingers. “Bring in the board.” 

“You don’t have the authority!” 

“You’ll find that I do.” 

“You can’t take him! He’s not a monster!” Claire shouted. 

“This doesn’t concern you, little girl.” 

“It actually does! That’s my boyfriend! And I’m not going to let you take him!” 

The woman shook her head. “Please people, I can only be so disgusted.” She nodded to the men standing by Claire, Toby, and Walter. “Escort them out.” 

“You can’t do this!” Toby shouted as he was shoved forward. 

Out in the hall, they watched in horror as the soldiers wheeled in what looked like a dolly with a flat metal back, with thick straps that wrapped around. 

Barbara was pushed out of the room a moment later. 

“You can’t do this! Stop! Stop! You’ll kill him!” 

“All the better.” Said Colonel Kublitz. “Then we can stop having these apocalypses.”

“Jim stopped Gunmar! He’s a hero!” Claire cried, tears streaming down her cheeks. “He’s our protector!” 

The Colonel ignored them, and put her focus back on the room. 

A few moments later, Jim was wheeled out, strapped down by the arms, legs, pelvis, chest, and neck. A horrible muzzle, like the kind Hannibal Lector was forced to wear, covered his face. 

“No!!” Claire shrieked. “You’re killing him! Let him go! Let him go!” 

But the Colonel had enough talking and directed her men, and Jim, out. 

“We can’t let them leave!” Cried Toby, “we have to help him!”

“There’s nothing we can do right now,” said Walter. “They have guns and authority. We’ll find a way to help Jim. Somehow.” 

“Do you think my mom could do anything?” Asked Claire. 

“Local government rarely has anything to do with the federal, let alone the army. But it’s worth a try.” 

“I’ll call Ophelia.” Said Barbara. 

“No, Mrs. Lake,” interrupted Claire. “I’ll handle it. You’re still on the clock.” 

Barbara sighed, and brushed her hair back. “I suppose I am. Thank you, Claire.”

—

The next day at school, the student body was slightly shaken. Rumors had spread, and evidence of Jim’s rage still remained, like the doors ripped off the hinges. 

Most students gave Toby and Claire a wide berth. 

Darci came running the second she spotted them. “So what happened? Where’s Jim? Dad said they weren’t going to arrest him. Is he still in the hospital?” 

Claire frowned hard, lines pulling at the corners of her lips. “They took him. Some soldiers from the army or CIA or FBI. I don’t know. They muzzled him and...” she started crying. 

Darci and Toby were there to comfort her immediately. 

“I don’t know where they took him! I don’t even know where to start! It’s like...Area 51 stuff. I might—we might never see him again!” 

“Excuse me?” A voice cut in. “I’m very sorry, but I couldn’t help but hearing your distressed cries. You said the Troll Jim has been taken to a secret government facility?” 

Claire looked up to the newcomers, sibling students she had shared plenty of classes with, but she blanked on the names. “I’m sorry, what’s your name again?” 

“My name is Krel.” Said the boy. 

“And I’m Aja,” the girl answered. “It’s okay, in all the end of the world craziness, my name slipped your mind. It happens! But, anyways, if I’m correct, I believe Jim may have been taken to Area 49-B. My brother and I have experience breaking in. Of course, we’ll need a different plan from last time...” 

“Wait wait wait...you know where Jim is?” 

“Most likely,” Krel corrected. “It’s the closest government facility that specializes in the paranormal and extraterrestrial.” 

“And...you and your sister have broken out of it?” 

“Into it...and then back out.” 

“Why?” 

Krel scratched the back of his head. “We Uh...needed something.” 

Toby patted Claire’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Claire, they’re cool. They’ve got secret underground knowledge, like Jim. You know?” 

Claire, quick as she was, made a little nod of understanding. 

These two siblings weren’t what they seemed. 

“The lightning in a bottle!” Claire snapped her fingers. “I’m sorry, I totally forgot about that.” 

“Like I said, end of the world stuff.” Aja shrugged. “We had our own problems to take care of.” 

“Of course, we still do,” shrugged Krel. “But we understand the importance of helping friends when we can.” 

“Well, I appreciate it. And I’m sure Jim will too. Why don’t you guys come with us after school? My mom works in local government and she said she was coming up with a plan. We could use someone with insider knowledge.” 

“Lively!” 

“How dangerous is this place?” Asked Darci. “What kind of stuff are they going to do to Jim?” 

“If he’s lucky, they’ll cage him and observe him.” Said Aja. 

“But, they did try to dissect me, so that’s on the table too.” 

“Oh Jim...” Claire got misty-eyed again. 

“Now, now, no reason to cry!” Krel interrupted. “Area 49-B is mostly about extraterrestrial research. Jim might just be held there...for safety. Yes, for safety. That’s what we can hope for.” 

The way he said it didn’t instill Claire with confidence.

—

Jim remained in and out of consciousness for several hours, fighting nausea, and confusion. When he was conscious, it was all a blur of technology and bright lights. Needles poked at his skin, and he felt the coldness of metal under him.

Several hours later, when he was coherent, he awoke to find himself strapped to a table, naked, and surrounded by several specimens floating in jars and canisters. Slowly, he became aware of the researchers around the room, in yellow hazmat suits. They looked foreign and alien. All of this was drowned out by the bright light shining down on him from above. 

It was like a strange nightmare. 

“Jim Lake Jr.” Said a woman’s voice. 

“That’s me.” He croaked. 

“Who’s Jim Lake Sr.? Another monster?” 

Jim scoffed. “In a way, but he’s entirely human, if you were wondering.” He flexed his cold hands, willing circulation back into them. “What happened?”

“According to our reports, you decided it was perfectly acceptable to ingest a kilogram of cocaine, and go on a rampage through your town.”

Jim’s throat felt dry, and his nausea came back in full force. “I did what?”

The woman held up a tablet, and showed him a video. It was a compilation of security footage from around the city. In each one, his rampaging form tore through the area, upheaving cars, sidewalks, and light posts. Anything in his way. Then towards the end, he saw himself carrying Claire over his shoulder roughly. She screamed out in pain. 

“I…I didn’t…that’s not me.”

“It is you.” The woman snarled. “You hurt all those people, terrorized a whole city. And they tried to protect you, acting like you were one of them. But you’re not. You’re a beast. And that’s all you’ll ever be. No matter what you think.” 

Jim stared at the tablet as the footage started over. It was him, but it…wasn’t. This Jim was erratic, chaotic, and cruel. It made sense why this woman and her team would believe he was a beast if this is what they saw. So now what? He had to convince them that he wasn’t actually that bad? They had video evidence. 

This was all his father’s fault. That had to have been his cocaine on the trash can. 

There had to be a way to convince them that this was a horrible misunderstanding and that he was a victim of circumstance. 

That could take a while.

—

After school, Aja and Krel went with Claire and Toby back to her house to share their knowledge of the government base with Ophelia. 

But what they found there instead was startling, to say the least. 

It was all hands on deck. Blinky, Barbara, Ophelia, Xavier, and even NotEnrique were hard at work making signs and banners. 

“Um, mom?” Claire asked upon entry. 

“Oh Claire! I didn’t even hear you walk in!” 

“What’s going on?”

“We’re campaigning!” Barbara said with gusto. 

“Campaigning?” 

Ophelia held up a sign that said ‘Free Jim Lake Jr.’ on it. “For Jim’s release!”

“What?”

“If there’s one thing the government hates, it’s attention and protests! So we’re going to get the whole town in on it. I have some contacts at the news station too! It’s going to blow up!” 

Claire frowned. “Wait, I thought you went through all that effort to hide the trolls, why would we risk exposing them now?”

“Oh Claire, we’re not exposing the trolls, we’re campaigning the release of a boy that looks different.”

Claire crossed her arms, skeptical, but not in denial. “Go on…” 

“Think about it. Jim’s not a prisoner that’s in jail. There was no trial. No arrest. He was given no rights and kidnapped by the government. This kind of stuff shouldn’t happen in the US.”

“But how do we convince the town that Jim really isn’t a monster? He did do a lot of damage. I know we convinced the city not to press charges as long as Jim helps clean up…but what about all the cars he flipped?”

“That’s where you come in!” 

“Me?!” 

“My apologies, Lady Claire,” Said Blinky. “That would be my doing.” 

“What did you do?”

“I simply explained to your mother that your skills in magic have improved to the point where you were able to restore our truck to a near perfect condition after that accident we had.” 

Ophelia continued. “And I’m going to pretend to not be angry that you didn't tell us you were in a serious car accident on your way back from New Jersey. Blinky said you almost died!” 

“But I didn’t!” Claire held up her hands in defense. “See? All good! Magic and all that…” 

“So, you can restore the cars that were totaled?” Asked her father. 

“Well, maybe…? It might take a little time. Using that much magic is exhausting.” 

Barbara rested a hand on her arm. “Anything you can do to sway the town that Jim isn’t a monster will help. If we have to do a fundraiser to pay for damages, we can do that too. Anything to get the town on our side.” 

“I’m willing to try!” Claire assured. 

“So I guess we’re not needed?” Asked Aja. 

“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Ophelia, approaching them. “As you can see, we’re in a state of chaos here. Are you friends of Jim and Claire’s?”

“Naturally!” Said Aja. “I’m Aja, and this is my little brother Krel.” 

“It’s very nice to meet you, I’m councilwoman Nuñez. Please, if you’re willing to help, we’ll certainly take it.” 

“Well,” said Krel. “We were here to offer a different sort of help…” 

Ophelia raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“What my little brother means,” Aja stated, elbowing him out of the way. “We have some information on the government facility that Jim was taken too. Area 49-B. Mostly used for research into the extraterrestrial and paranormal, but I suppose that could extend to Jim and the trolls.” She rubbed her hands together nervously. “We…had to recover some equipment from the facility. Which required breaking and entering…” 

Ophelia leveled a look at them both. “Is any of this so-called equipment dangerous to the city? Do I need to be concerned?”

“No no no!” Krel waved his hands around. “Well, it’s mostly safe. Unless there’s a malfunction. But even then, that’s a small possibility…”

“Krel…” Aja bit. 

“What? I’m just being honest with the woman!” 

“It’s okay guys, you can trust Mrs. Nuñez.” Said Toby. “She knows all about Jim and the Trollmarket.”  

“I mean, next thing you know, you’re going to tell us to trust everyone in Arcadia.” Joked Krel. 

“I’m working my way there.” 

“Fine,” said Aja. “We’re not...from earth. We're in hiding from our home planet. We’ve come to take sanctuary here.” 

“And we need to repair our ship before we can leave.” Added Krel. 

“Aliens.” Said Ophelia, with the blankest expression and tone. 

“Uh, we prefer the term extraterrestrials.” 

Ophelia just sighed. “Trolls. Wizards. Aliens. What’s next? Gnomes?” 

“Oh, there’s been gnomes,” answered Toby.

“Goblins?”

“So many goblins.”

“Okay, so space invaders.” Ophelia threw up her hands. “I guess we’re just that town now, huh? Great. Wonderful.” 

Barbara smoothly took over the situation. “What can you tell us about the facility?”

“Well, for starters, it’s very hard to get into. 10 foot cement walls, blast doors, motion sensor laser guns, the last time we broke in, we had to fake an alien sighting to lure out some guards, stole their uniforms, and snuck in disguised. And we had our AIs monitoring our every move through security cameras and luring personal outside with tacos.” 

“Hmm…sounds dangerous. How did you sneak out?” 

“We…didn’t.” Aja laughed awkwardly. “We kind of busted a giant extraterrestrial arthropod out to cover our escape. We were only lucky that that woman saw us in our real forms and not these human projections. No doubt, she’s hunting for us anyways.” 

“A jailbreak won’t work anyways,” stated Claire. “They took Jim from Arcadia. If we broke him out, he wouldn’t be able to return here, cause they’ll just take him again.” 

“The woman in charge is Colonel Kublitz, and she’s really mean.”

“So I gathered from her visit in the hospital.” Said Barbara with a scowl. 

“Then the campaign is our only hope,” confirmed Ophelia. “If we can’t break him out, and we can’t appeal to the Colonel’s heart, then we put pressure on her superiors to let him out.” 

“But first, we need to get the town on our side. Which means clean up duty.”

—

“Has anyone seen Jim? I need a library card, and I was hoping to borrow his.” This was said by Merlin, who waltzed into the Lake house as soon as they returned from the campaign meeting.

“What?” Asked Claire. “You mean you didn’t hear?”

“If I had heard any news about Jim, do you think I’d be asking?” He put his arms on his hips. “I don’t have one of your cellphones, I’m not ‘in the loop’ as you like to say.” 

Toby answered, “Jim’s been kidnapped by the government and taken to a secret facility to be experimented on!” 

Merlin blinked once, twice, and scratched his chin. “Well, that’s not good.”

“No, it’s really not!” 

“So are you going to help us save him?” Asked Claire. “It’s your magic that got him into this mess in the first place!” 

“Oh, so sorry for trying to make sure your boyfriend stayed alive. I won’t do it again,” he rolled his eyes. “But yes, I’ll help rescue Jim. What is it that you need? Dimension door? A portal to get him out? Or perhaps some fire power down the front door?” 

“No, we need you to help fix the damage Jim did to the town.” 

“You want me to what?! Do I look like a janitor to you?!”

“Come on man, it’s all part of the plan!” Said Toby, “We’re going to get the whole town on our side, and then we’re going to campaign and make a big stink about him being taken! It’ll give them a bunch of unwanted attention, and they’ll have to listen to us!”

“Oh yes, I’m certain that’s exactly what’s going to happen…and not mass execution.” 

“This is the 21st century, the government isn’t going to execute an entire town.” 

“Oh, they don’t do that anymore? Pity. Anyways, I suppose I can help reverse the damage Jim caused…what damage would that be, exactly?”

“James Butthead Sr. left a bag of cocaine out where Jim could find it and he ate it and went into a drug fueled rage, where he flipped over cars and light poles and scared the bejebus out of everyone.” Toby stated. “The police agreed not to arrest him, because of the circumstances, as long as he agrees to clean up the town…but then the army came in and yada yada yada, Bob’s your uncle.” 

“What? When did this happen?” 

“Just yesterday.”

“How did I miss it?”

“You were probably at McDonalds.” 

The man frowned, “I hate that I’ve become predictable. Alright, I’ll get to work doing street repairs first thing in the morning. Until then…does anyone have a library card I could use?”

—

Maybe they’d let him go on good behavior, he wondered. Jim followed every direction to a T, and regarded every scientist or personnel politely. Yes sir, no sir, yes ma’am, no ma’am. Please and thank you. Every ounce of humanity he could muster, he demonstrated. 

In return, he’d been poked and prodded. Blood, urine, sweat, spit and all manner of bodily fluids had been extracted and examined. He had run on a treadmill for hours until he collapsed. He had gone without food and water for the last two days. 

They were treating him like anything but human. 

He was just happy they weren’t using UV lights yet. 

“How are you feeling?” One of the researchers asked. 

“Hungry, tired.” He panted from his table.

“What do you eat?”

“Anything…do you have any socks?” 

“You’ll have to wait a bit longer for food. Until the Colonel gives the okay.” 

“And how much longer will that be?”

“She’ll be here soon, why don’t you ask her yourself?” 

Jim really hated interacting with the Colonel. Most of the personnel were indifferent to him. Some of the researchers actually spoke to him, but most just treated him like he wasn’t even there. The Colonel though, she was cruel. She belittled him, humiliated him, reminded him of the actions that had put him in here. 

She made him feel like an animal, more than anything else after his transformation had. 

“Why is she so much meaner than everyone else on this base?” He asked rhetorically. 

“She’s scared of you.” Said the researcher, not looking at him. “And you’ll never be free as long as she is.” 

Great. Awesome. Just what he wanted to hear. Oh well. He’d just have to up his politeness. Maybe he could convince them to let him cook or something. That could work.

Soon enough, the Colonel arrived, tablet under her arm and a sneer on her lips. “James Lake Jr.”

“That’s me,” he rolled his eyes. He’d been through this every time she’d come to see him. 

“Junior at Arcadia Oaks High School. Nearly perfect GPA up until last year where you got a large stint of absences. Starred in the drama production of Romeo and Juliet. This is you?”

“Yes! I’ve gone to the Arcadia Oaks school district since Kindergarten!” 

“Except Jim Lake Jr. looks like this,” she held up last year’s school photo, with the old him. The human him. The him that didn’t flip cars and trash towns. 

“That was me a few months ago.” 

“This doesn’t look anything like you.” 

“It doesn’t? Not the eyes? Face shape?”

“What I don’t understand is that your DNA samples came back, and they had some commonality to Jim Lake Jr.’s DNA, about half. So, what happened?”

Jim kept a wary eye on her, thinking his answer through. He had been asked something similar by a police chief several states away. Then, the truth hasn’t been too hard to confess, they were far from home and they had treated him like a person. 

A criminal, but a person. And they apologized afterwards. 

But this woman...there was no mercy in her eyes. 

“Well? Are you going to give me answers? Or am I going to have to force them out of you?” 

Would she even believe the truth? 

“Magic.” Jim provided, as a start. 

The Colonel was unimpressed, and growing impatient. 

So he elaborated, carefully, “this amulet,” he gestured to the stone embedded into his chest. “Was created by Merlin the wizard of Arthurian legend. It chose me to be the protector of man and troll.” 

All of the Colonel’s attention was quickly on the amulet, as she studied it. “Protect from what?” 

“Gunmar, mostly...how much do you know about the tornado in Arcadia?” 

“I know that it wasn’t a natural tornado. I know that your town was upheaved by trolls from deep underground, and that when it all went away, the town shut it down tight. There’s only a few amateur videos of the incident.” 

“That was Gunmar. He led an army of evil trolls that wanted to blot out the sun. It was my job to stop him...but I wasn’t exactly a star athlete...so, Merlin turned me into a half troll.” 

Turning this entire exchange, the Colonel never once looked away from the amulet. “I see...and what happened to Gunmar?”

“I stopped him. I killed him. And killing him destroyed his army. Everything is safe now.” He managed to smile. “Now that you know I’m not all that bad, would you ease up a bit? That last incident was an accident...I didn’t know it was cocaine, I just thought it was trash!” 

“Silence.” 

Jim bit his lip, waiting for the Colonel to make up her mind. 

“I want to study this amulet in more detail.” 

“Well, you can look all you like, but it’s embedded in my chest.” 

“That’s never stopped me before.” She turned to the researcher nearby. “Get me some gloves and some forceps.” 

Immediately, Jim started to squirm and pull at his restraints. Forget politeness, she wasn’t getting anywhere near him with forceps! The restraints groaned as he pulled on them, tearing the welding apart. 

“Sedate him!” The Colonel ordered. 

He tried to resist, he really did, but the mask held over his face made him weak. It didn’t completely put him under, but it did make his head a little foggy and his limbs not cooperate. 

“Just sit still, it’ll all be over soon.” The woman’s voice could have been soothing, if it didn’t hold such malicious intent. 

Jim felt the pull on his chest as the cold metal forceps tried to pry the amulet free. 

Of course, Jim had a stroke of genius. “For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command!” 

It didn’t release him from his binding, but the armor forced the woman away from him, and added extra support over the amulet’s edges. 

And as an added bonus, he summoned his helmet and visor, which pushed the anesthesia mask away from his face. 

Now to just get free! 

The researchers had all gone from the room when he started to glow, but the Colonel stayed behind, unable to tear her gaze away. 

“Fascinating...” 

Hopped up on adrenaline and rage, Jim gave a final heave to his bindings and broke free. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” Said Colonel Kublitz. 

“Leaving, preferably. Look, I told you what you wanted to know, I let you poke and prod me for days without water. But I’m done. I’m going home.” 

“And then what?” She asked. “You think we won’t come after you again? Hell, you think you can break out of here?” 

“I can try.” He rolled his shoulders and summoned daylight. “And maybe if I make a good enough of an impression, you’ll find it not worth it to try to get me back.” 

“Try if you can, but now that I know exactly what that amulet is capable of, I’m not letting you leave with it!” 

Thankfully, Jim had a spectacular response time, and darted out of the way at the first sign of the gun, or laser. Whatever that thing was. 

She fired beam after beam, only for Jim to dance out of the way, swiftly and gracefully. He dove behind other specimens and lab equipment, but the Colonel seemed to have little regard for them. Glass tanks exploded, making the floor slippery and sending glass everywhere. 

Before Jim could even reach the door, the room was already surrounded with armed men, all armed with lasers. 

“Give up, Beast! There’s nowhere to run!” 

“I’m not a beast!” Jim shouted back, with a roar. Looking up, he found a large vent in the ceiling. That very well could be his way out. 

But as he jumped to grab for his hold, a beam connected. Bolts of electricity crashed into him over and over in waves, flowing from his horns to his toes, making him convulse violently and unwillingly. He collapsed on the floor in a writhing mess. 

“Don’t touch him yet, the current is still in his armor.” 

Jim felt it too, passing through his very body like he was made of metal. 

Then it all stopped, and he laid exhausted on the floor. He blamed it on his hunger, his thirst, his restlessness. This was a battle not won. 

“Now then, where were we?” 

The electrocution left him too tired to fight, and just awake enough to feel all the pain. 

“You know, a blast at that voltage would have killed a normal human.” She said. “Guess you can be thankful for that, huh?” 

Jim could only let out a weak groan, before his armor faded away. The hands that grabbed him hurt, even just from the residual shock. He was placed back onto a table, and strapped in again. He had no strength to fight. 

“Alright, let’s try this again.”

They didn’t even sedate him, just tore into the flesh of his chest to remove the amulet. 

“Scalpel isn’t going to work, I need a chisel.” 

He could feel the tool cracking into his chest, one knock at a time, carving away. It hurt, oh it hurt, and he cried out in pain. 

And then it was over, and he felt so hollow inside, so empty. 

The Colonel held up the amulet in the light, bits of him still clinging to it. “There now, that wasn’t too bad was it?” 

Jim was unable to answer, his body trembling in pain and shock. His breaths were erratic and shuttering. 

“Clean this up, and then find out what the secret is. I want that armor for myself!”

[elizabethemerald]

College AUs

So I realize my college experience might not be universal but it definitely colours my idea of different college AUs. Basically I went to college in a hick town on the other side of the state. The population of the town doubled when school was in session, and it became a ghost town during summer and holidays. Not the best place to realize you are a transwoman maybe, but it did have some unique aspects. Namely students didn’t stay in a bunch of crummy apartments in shady part of town. People stayed in massive houses, repeatedly remodeled to add an increasingly ridiculous number of rooms. 90% of any friend group lived in one of two locations and every party or gathering would happen at one of those two locations. For me that location was the Lake House (so named because it sat on the end of lake street). That was where I spent hours upon hours of my college years, even though I didn’t live there personally. Its a place where some part of the group ends up staying there the entire duration of their college experience, handing it off to younger friends as time progresses. 

So this is the Mighty Nein moving into the Xhorhaus after Upperclassman Essik tells Caleb about a house, but he better have a lot of friends to fill the rooms, because there’s no way he could afford it by himself. Caleb glances at the Nein crowded into his dorm room, and says he thinks he can manage that. Its Caleb and Beau getting into fierce arguments about different topics, though Beau will deny it vehemently if anyone mentions her passion. Beau shadows a bunch of classes just because she considers the topics interesting. Jester was roommates with Beau her freshmen year, and decided to stick with that arrangement. She also spends ten minutes in their room the first day they move in and they all realize they are not going to get their deposit back. Fjord, Caduceus and Yasha are all in religious studies (Fjord’s a late transfer). Caleb and Veth work on chemistry projects together and have almost burned down the house several times (mostly veth). Caduceus plants a garden in the back yard, and parts of it he lets grow out of control into the neighbors. He ignores all complaints.  There’s a house rules wall, with an artfully decorated poster and hand written rules. There’s the standard ones about quiet hours, and bringing home partners and who does the dishes, plus a bunch of unique ones. Jester’s rules are mostly small pranks, but she still fiercely enforces them. “No you guys, you have to raise your hands and say woo when you enter the house. It’s in the house rules!” Part of this wall is a banned wall of people who are no longer allowed to enter the Xhorhaus, including several abusive exes, such as Avantika and Obann, also Marius is on the wall, though he still shows up on occassion. 

For Avatar AUs, its the Gaang all living together. Aang is the teenager who graduated high school early and is also the one person who had a car, because that’s part of his culture. (When it gets stolen one year he is furious and cries when they find it again) Toph never wearing shoes, and tracking mud throughout the entire house because she never thinks to wipe her feet. Katara shouting at Sokka to wash his dishes, the mold in his protein shake bottle has almost gained sentience. Suki and Yue have a small rivalry for a little bit before deciding Sokka is a dumbass and dating each other instead. That’s fine because Sokka is pining after Zuko. They can never agree on a temperature too keep the public spaces in because everyone is used to such different climates. The house constantly smells slightly of chlorine from Katara’s swim gear. 

For TOA AUs the Trollhunters its a massive house with terrible windows at the bottom of a hill. There’s no natural light in the house, and visitors say it feels like a cave. But they find it homey enough and they call it Trollmarket. The crowning jewel of the house is the Heartstone, the massive fire pit in the back yard where they host bonfires. Its the whole house having such a casual level of intimacy that outsiders are never really sure who is dating who. Movie nights end up as a massive cuddle pile with everyone’s limbs tangled together. There is wildly different music blaring from each corner of the house, Claire and Douxie’s rock battling with Krel’s electronica. Claire and Jim spend a semester studying abroad and leave Toby behind, and he’s terrified that they hate him, but Krel and Aja are there to make sure he’s ok. Jim is master of the kitchen, keeping the fridge well stocked and his friends well fed. Aja sets up a small fighting pit in the back yard near the Heartstone. Krel’s room has a bunch of Razzberry Pi’s set up to run different programs for him, like music, mood lighting etc and he constantly complains about the backwater city not having the tech supplies he needs. Their wifi network is called “DefendersofArcadia” and for some reason they have the fastest internet around. 

I love college AUs so much. I just wish so many of them didn’t focus on small town kids coming to the big city and staying in a bunch of tiny apartments and there was more stories about a bunch of kids moving into one massive cobbled together house, and living together that way. 

[yellowmagicalgirl]

Seklos and Gaylen, They Were Cagemates! Chapter 4: How Falling Starts

Krel and Douxie talk, and Krel is faced with a moral dilemma. Kubritz tries an experiment of her own.

I’d like to thank everyone who reblogged the previous chapter; your continued support is really helpful and appreciated.

AO3

FFN

Spoiler/Trigger Warning: offscreen medical torture, weighing of lives, past offscreen character death, past child neglect/malnutrition, beatings, and something I'm not too sure how to warn for but the third scene parallels the ultimate portal as well as Merlin's stabbing.

Krel was already sore before he got thrown into the cage and his face slammed against the glass. How strong was it, to take the force of his body like that?

Krel groaned as he pushed himself into a slightly more comfortable sitting position and winced as the cuts on his skin brushed against the various surfaces of the cage and the gown. He thought he had been uncomfortable before they had cut into him, due to how he wasn’t used to and didn’t like having so much skin exposed, but this was even worse. He ached and itched wherever the scientists who worked here had cut into his skin. Some cuts had been slices across the surface, and other cuts had been punctured holes. The punctures had hurt even worse than the slices at the time. Krel had ended up screaming until he had been slapped and gagged. Now, they were all similar levels of pain spread across his body.

“You okay?” the wizard asked. Krel glared at him. What sort of question was that? They were literally being tortured.

“What do you think?” Then again, the wizard looked human, so it was entirely possible that the scientists had gone easier on him than they had on Krel. “Are you?”

“No, and you’re right. It was a stupid question,” the wizard said forlornly before he turned away from Krel. By doing so, he gave Krel a better view of his face.

Maybe it was the lighting, or maybe Krel wasn’t good at identifying human injuries, but it looked like the wizard was hurt. Bruised, probably, given the blotches on his face. Aside from the bruises, his skin seemed to blend in more with the white gown than it had been before the scientists had taken him away. If he was getting any sort of special treatment for looking human, it wasn’t that much.

It was quiet as the wizard curled on himself. Good. Krel had time to think about how he and the wizard would escape, assuming Aja didn’t come for Krel first.

No. That wasn’t the plan. Krel was only supposed to plan for his own escape. Not that he should need to plan for his own escape, not when Aja and Zadra were coming for him.

Was it cruel to leave the wizard behind to be tortured and beaten? Yes. Yes it was.

Was it something Krel could and would do if it meant his own escape?

The wizard had yet to prove that he wasn’t an idiot, or at least only the average amount of idiocy as everyone else on this mudball. But could Krel leave him behind?

Maybe. Probably. Especially if Krel and the wizard weren’t together when Aja finally came and rescued Krel.

Krel didn’t like how uncertain that answer was in his head.

Would Krel leave the wizard behind? Well, if Aja and Zadra came for him, he couldn’t risk losing time and potentially his sister too just trying to save the wizard.

But what if Aja didn’t come for him, and he had to escape on his own? (Which was nonsense, of course Aja would come for him. She had to. She was his sister. He would do the same for her, just his plan would involve more stealth and less fighting.) He didn’t want to answer that to himself and thus admit the level of uncertainty.

The wizard’s shoulders shook slightly as he made a small, wet, gasping noise. Krel sighed.

“I’m Krel, by the way.”

The wizard turned back to Krel. Tears shone on his cheeks under the green lights of his cage, but he gave Krel a dazzling smile, nonetheless. In a wet voice he said, “I’m Hisirdoux, but everyone calls me Douxie.”

Colonel Kubritz rubbed her temples. She could already feel a headache coming on; the new specimens were infuriating. Oh, it was interesting to study them. It was good to have taken back one of the ones who had broken in, and she hoped that by capturing him his friends would come back for him and the rest of them could be captured as well, but she had received so many complaints ever since they had gotten the two of them.

Apparently, the two new specimens kept having conversations. That had been the frequent complaint. Often, the specimens didn’t have conversations, but they also didn’t often have multiple new specimens at the same time. They’d get one specimen at a time, and it would call out for help, but it would eventually lose hope. And then, it’d be quiet. If it didn’t lose hope on its own, then the soldiers and scientists were instructed to beat it into submission.

That was the other half of Kubritz’s frustration. What didn’t her men understand about using force to silent the specimens? They understood it when the specimens fought back – she had gone over the reports on these two. They had been beaten into submission. But talking in their cages, together, and her men suddenly forgot all their training and indoctrination.

Kubritz groaned. Stuart had been this frustrating as well, so it only made sense that his captured ally was following in his footsteps.

The last wizard they’d captured had been similarly frustrating. He’d been a man in his thirties who had had the audacity to be working as an elementary school teacher in southern Nevada. He’d been caught creating bubbles out of nothing to entertain his students.

He had claimed to be a US citizen, that he deserved better. He was beaten and told that only humans could be citizens. It took a long time for him to learn that lesson.

He’d call out for help, and he was beaten. He stopped calling out for help.

He’d try to help and soothe all the aliens near him. He was beaten for it. Eventually he finally shut up, though that may have been the fact that the aliens refused to respond to him.

And a week after he stopped fighting back, his magic faded down to a faint trickle when he was allowed access to it. Kubritz had been the one to talk to him about it.

“Magic is emotion,” he had said to her in such a hollow voice that it still felt mocking years later, “and you’ve made me apathetic.”

His body was disposed of a week later. Even in death, he’d held onto his secrets; not even his corpse showed signs of what the differences between wizards and humans were.

Hopefully the new specimen would show more promise than just being a nuisance, showing no results and talking to the other nuisance.

She sat up straight as an idea came to her.

“Magic is emotion?” she said to herself. “Well, I bet I can use this emotional connection to my advantage.”

Despite all the centuries that had passed, gruel didn’t change. That was what they had been given to eat – a single bowl of gruel for each of them. Douxie was pretty sure that the rats that Archie used to catch for him to eat would have been more nourishing given how small the bowls were. Still, Douxie was thankful to finally eat.

“Fligshaag,” Krel said from his cage. Douxie looks over to see him making a face. Ah, so he finally stopped poking at his food and started eating it. “I knew this was going to taste bad, but that bad?”

The taste of gruel hadn’t really changed over the centuries, though Douxie hadn’t tasted much of it given how quickly he had eaten his. “At least it’s not moldy. Or at least it didn’t look that way,” Douxie said to him. Some of the personnel walked towards them; most of them had their hands behind their backs., and a woman dressed in green trailed behind them.

Krel gave him a concerned look. “What’s ‘moldy’?”

Douxie didn’t get a chance to reply before one of the personnel grabbed Krel, kicking over his gruel. “I was going to eat that, you klebso!” he yelled.

Krel was thrown to the ground with a grunt. The one who had thrown him stepped back. As Krel tried to push himself to a kneeling position, the other personnel surrounded him in a near-perfect circle. The only gap was a perfect window between Krel and Douxie. Outside this window Douxie noticed that the personnel were holding metal batons.

No.

Oh, no.

As Douxie raised his voice to warn Krel, they brought their batons down to strike him.

Krel cried out in pain and curled in on himself, tucking his limbs up to cover his chest, seeming not to care about the other parts of his body.

“Stop!” Douxie cried out, slamming one of his fists into the glass of his cage. “You’re hurting him!”

They continued beating Krel.

“What do you sick bastards even want?” Douxie slammed his other hand against the glass. “Stop it!”

Douxie saw the lights in the cuffs around his wrists dim until they were nonexistent, but he didn’t register them. All he wanted for them to stop hurting Krel. He wanted for himself and Krel to be free from the pain and torture the soldiers were inflicting on them. He wanted them to be free and safe and away from here.

One of the batons struck near Krel’s eye.

“STOP!” Douxie yelled, his voice louder than what his vocal cords could normally produce. He barely had time to see his eyes turn blue in his reflection in the glass before it shattered as a wave of blue magic burst outwards and broke the glass. It left Krel unharmed, but glass hit the soldiers and magic knocked all but the furthest of them over. Arcane symbols – the same symbols that adorned his bracer – maintained circular orbits around Douxie.

Krel stretched out from his position and looked up at Douxie in awe. Douxie gazed back at him and gave him a gentle smile as Douxie began to rise to his feet. He felt powerful, like no one could hurt him or anyone he cared about again. He and Krel would walk out of here, and Douxie would protect them both.

The one standing soldier put his foot on Krel’s throat (and why hadn’t Krel protected his throat; he had protected his chest but not his throat). Something twisted and broke within Douxie, and another wave of anger and magic rose out from him. As it exited him, though, something felt wrong, and he felt pain course throughout his entire body. He cried out as he fell to his hands and knees, and as this second wave of magic reached the symbols they warped. They moved faster and broke their orbits into random paths. The symbols themselves changed to be unrecognizable, occasionally merging or breaking.

Douxie heard cracking beneath him and wrenched his eyes away from Krel to his hands. Painful glowing pale blue cracks were forming on his fingers. In one of the larger shards of glass he saw those same cracks begin to crawl across his jaw and radiate outwards from his eyes.

Oh. He had used too much magic.

So, this is what dying felt like. Pain, and breaking promises he had never understood how someone could ever break.

He wasn’t going to make it out of here alive.

All he could do now was make sure that Krel would.

Douxie grit his teeth as he pushed himself back to his knees. With a shout he stretched his hands out in front of him.

He intended a gout of pure flame to hit the soldier in the neck. Instead, a wave of force threw the soldier back several feet, sending them thudding into the wall next to the woman.

“Run,” Douxie rasped to Krel. His voice was still unnaturally loud, but he couldn’t bring himself to raise it above a whisper. Anything else would break him beyond recognition. He had to hold it together just long enough for Krel to escape. Then he could give in to the maelstrom of dark magic and whatever path it went down, and hopefully it would be a quick and painless death.

Krel turned and began to run but stopped in his tracks when he saw the woman.

She grabbed two things from her pockets. With one device, she began to tase Krel. Even as his head began to feel heavy, Douxie readied another blast of magic to stop her.

The cuffs on his wrists flared a bright and toxic green, and all Douxie knew then was darkness.

A/N: So, for the record, I'm pretty sure the show didn't make a distinction between the two but I'm making a distinction between shadow magic and dark magic. Shadow magic is based in darkness, illusion, and transportation through the Shadow Realm. Dark magic is magic that is powered by a life force, and is generally only used by those who are desperate (and feed their own life force to their magic) or cruel and power hungry (and feed other's lives to their magic). While the two shadowmancers in the show have used dark magic (Claire in desperation, Morgana in callousness towards life), it is possible to use shadowmancy without using dark magic, it's just a little more difficult than with non-shadow magic given the nature of the Shadow Realm. And, like shown here, it's possible to use entirely light-based magic like Douxie does and still use dark magic.